


The sun within me

by fangirlandiknowit



Category: Naruto
Genre: A lot of other characters - Freeform, M/M, Road to ninja crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2018-02-11 18:27:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 201,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2078553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirlandiknowit/pseuds/fangirlandiknowit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just before the one year anniversary of the 4th shinobi war, Naruto and Sasuke are sucked into a different dimension where Konoha is nothing like they're used to. Why are they there? How will they get home? And why does everyone keep mistaking them for a couple?! NarutoxSasuke, Road to Ninja crossover, romance/drama/humor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What lies ahead...

**Author's Note:**

> Already posting this on [ff.net](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10435435/1/The-sun-within-me) but for reasons I'm also posting here now. Will be a mixture of drama and shameless humor... Sort of following canon.

”Hey Sasuke!”

It took Sasuke a second to realize that the person yelling at him was, in fact, not an intruder but rather Naruto, though by that point the knife was already securely embedded in his kitchen wall. Great, another dent to add to the already present four.

“Really Sasuke, you should be used to this by now! You need to relax a bit.”

Turning his head towards the noise he watched the other ninja slump down into one of his kitchen chairs, one arm on the table and the other loosely hanging off the back of the chair. Of course, that stupid grin was spread over the tan face, stretching out the whisker marks.

“Or you could get it into your dense skull that I told you _not_ to do that,” he remarked, eyebrow raised and glare in place. “Are you going to pay for the dents in my wall?”

Naruto chuckled nervously, scratching his neck. He didn’t exactly look like he regretted his actions however, so Sasuke decided to ignore his presence and continue with the making of his breakfast. He reached for the kitchen knife to continue cutting his eggs, only to remember it was that particular knife he’d sent flying a minute earlier.

“Next time I won’t miss on purpose,” he added as he pulled it out, sending Naruto another scathing look before returning to the kitchen counter.

“Oh come on, don’t be so boring,” Naruto complained, leaning his head on the arm already on the table, slouching further into his seat. “You should be happy that I’m practicing!”

Feeling a slight twitch in his lips, Sasuke refrained from making a rude comment. Well, exaggeratedly rude.

“We’re not allowed to use teleportation within the village, or did you already forget? Dobe.”

“Hey! It’s fine to use it, Baa-chan is just being mean for no reason!”

“You teleported into her office without notice, thus causing her to spill sake over several important and irreplaceable documents,” he droned, cutting a few slices of bread, trying not to think of the fact that this was the supposed hero of the village he had to remind for the hundredth time.

“Okay yeah, but that was _one_ time, _one time_ Sasuke! Plus it was ages ago, I can use it with no problems now!”

Sighing through his nose, Sasuke decided to spare himself the trouble of asking just how showing up unexpectedly had anything to do with Naruto’s ability to use the jutsu. Glancing over his shoulder he could see the pout forming on Naruto’s mouth, blue eyes scowling at him. Instead he grabbed the two sandwiches he’d made, throwing one on the tabletop in front of Naruto and sitting down next to him.

“What’s this?” Naruto asked, voice dripping with suspicion.

“Nothing that would kill you, sadly.”

Naruto kicked his chair, picking it up and all but shoving it into his mouth. Sasuke didn’t have to ask to know he’d most likely only had a cup of instant ramen for breakfast. Why else would he show up uninvited with perfect timing for breakfast? For someone so scatter-brained he sure knew how to show up when there was food to be had.

“Can I skip the salad?” Naruto complained, still munching and eyeing the sandwich with a pained look on his face.

“It’s all or nothing,” he answered, pouring himself some juice and not bothering to offer some to Naruto.

“You’re evil.”

“Really, I had no idea.”

First Naruto scoffed at him, then another grin lit up his face.

“That’s nice though.” When Sasuke gave him a look he continued, patting his knee gently despite knowing Sasuke hated it. “You using humor, I mean. You’re making progress! Even if it’s shitty humor…”

Sasuke placed his foot against Naruto’s chair and pushed, satisfied when both chair and idiot fell to the floor.

“Dammit teme!”

“Hn. That’s what you get for breaking and entering.”

“Well I didn’t really feel like walking,” Naruto said, sounding slightly exasperated, still on the floor and waving his sandwich at Sasuke. “You of all people should understand that.”

“Being lazy isn’t my forte.”

Why he even bothered humoring the moron he wasn’t sure, but it must have something to do with the fact that he wasn’t a morning person and couldn’t care less about what he said and did.

He received a glare for that, before Naruto seemed to resign himself to stay in his current position on his back, legs hanging over the seat of the chair.

“Whatever. It’s not like you’re the kind of person to remember dates, anyway.”

Sasuke actually frowned at that. Naruto seemed less cheerful today, but on the other hand anything less than blindingly smiling and emitting nauseating happiness was depressing when it came to him.

“It’s my birthday tomorrow.” Naruto rolled his eyes when no recognition appeared in Sasuke’s eyes. “The one year anniversary of winning against that tree and shit? Remember? Tomorrow you’re free to do whatever you want.”

Oh. Sasuke had almost forgotten about it. Somehow time had seemed to pass quickly and not at all since he came back to Konoha. How his sentence had gone from execution to life in prison to one year of community service he didn’t know, but he could bet his rinnegan that Naruto had had something to do with the decision-making between the latter two. Which basically meant that tomorrow, he was free to leave Konoha if he so wished.

“So… what are you going to do?”

He hadn’t noticed Naruto watching him with apprehension, worry even.

“I mean, I know you said you want to be Hokage, but…” Naruto bit his lip, grimacing a little.

Becoming Hokage was a nice idea at the time, but even Sasuke didn’t think he had the charm to stop half the village, or ninja world for that matter, from thinking of him as the missing nin that defected from the village and joined not only Orochimaru, but Akatsuki as well.

“I’m sure I could give you a run for your money if I felt like it,” he said, taking another calm bite of his food.

“Right. So what are you going to do, then?”

He took his time chewing, swallowing carefully and wiping some crumbs off his mouth. Honestly, he hadn’t thought too much about it. There was the whole issue with Itachi, and he wouldn’t like to see Konoha ever sinking that low again. Probably leaving the village wasn’t going to send a good signal to everyone expecting eternal peace out of Naruto’s divine guidance.

Or it was more like, having Naruto chase after him again would be pointless.

“If I left you’d just pester me to come back,” he finally said, trying to brush the question off like it was no big deal.

“Not if you had a good reason for it.”

He glanced at Naruto, his tan face serious and possibly not too happy about his own words.

“I don’t,” he shrugged, eating the last piece of sandwich and standing up, picking up his glass of juice while keeping one eye trained on Naruto to see his reaction.

“You mean you’re staying?”

The hope shining in blue eyes almost made Sasuke cringe. He didn’t really understand why Naruto insisted on caring so much about him, or whether he was around or not. Sure, there was the whole reincarnation thing connecting them, but he preferred not to think about it. He’d simply come to the conclusion that it was kind of how he felt about Itachi and left it at that, not ignoring it but not encouraging it either.

“If I didn’t you’d probably trip on one of those empty ramen cartons and die and who’ll become Hokage then?”

With Naruto’s eyes watering like that he had to avert his eyes. This wasn’t how he’d planned to spend his morning at all.

“Okay,” Naruto said, voice a little hoarse as if he tried to rein himself in from getting too emotional, which Sasuke couldn’t understand since Naruto being emotional wasn’t exactly strange.

He’d cried a lot when the war was over after all.

“Okay,” Naruto repeated to himself, taking a deep breath, and Sasuke could feel his chakra calming down again. “Well Kurama’s a little pissed ‘cause he thinks Konoha isn’t big enough for two bastards, but don’t worry I’ve got room for you both.”

Sasuke had to turn and give him a deadpan look at that. Naruto had a tendency to not notice the crap he was spewing, and that sure found a place in the top ten.

“I’m off to work,” he dismissed him with, placing his glass on the counter and starting for the door.

“Wha- Wait up! I’m coming with you!”

“Obviously,” Sasuke muttered, letting the moron pass through before he did a last check that he had everything he needed before stepping out and closing the door behind them.

As they made their way towards the Hokage tower, Sasuke realized why Naruto hadn’t felt like walking before. Every hundred meters or so they were stopped by someone, friend or stranger, everyone wishing Naruto an early Happy Birthday and asking him about his plans, and telling them how they were going to mourn the people that died but of course also wanted him to not have a depressing birthday.

“You’ve got two anniversaries on your birthday, after all, neither too happy,” an old woman had said, shaking her head with a hand placed comfortingly on Naruto’s arm.

Sasuke pulled him up on the roofs after that, thinking they wouldn’t encounter anyone up there, especially since there was a general prohibition about using that route now when they were still doing construction work and you couldn’t be entirely sure everything was held up enough to withstand the occasional jump powered by chakra.

“It’s not that it bothers me,” Naruto started, a frown on his face as he glanced to Sasuke. “It’s just that it feels a bit weird, my birthday was always the worst day of the year, well except when I travelled with Ero-sennin, and now it’s going to become some national hero holiday?”

“I thought they were all talking about mourning,” Sasuke felt the need to point out.

“Yeah, I know, but the schedule is to spend half the day mourning the dead and then there’ll be a huge party in the evening.”

Sasuke hadn’t heard about that before. Must have been one of those times he’d tuned out Tsunade’s constant nagging.

“Sakura-chan said she’ll go with me. As friends, I mean, so I don’t have to be bothered by ‘eager young women who want to marry me’.”

He said the last part in a mock, quoting tone of voice, and Sasuke gave him an uninterested look.

“Am I supposed to care?”

“Well duh, I’m popular now!”

“Good for you.”

Sasuke really didn’t care. It was only to be expected that Naruto would be treated as a hero when they returned, much like had been the case when everyone on the battlefield woke up and found out what happened. For his own part he’d be much happier if no one paid attention to him, not because it really bothered him that people were suspicious of him, but because Naruto seemed to take it as a personal insult whenever someone threw a comment their way. Really, he _had_ been reported as a criminal with a fairly decent record, even if he couldn’t honestly bring himself to believe that killing Danzo was anything short of an outright favor to Konoha.

“I think you still beat me when it comes to girls though.”

Naruto didn’t seem particularly sad over this fact, and Sasuke didn’t understand why he was still talking.

“For an almost eighteen-year-old you sure talk about immature topics.”

“What the hell!” Naruto growled, shifting his weight as he landed from a jump and used the momentum to try and kick Sasuke in the side.

Sasuke avoided it easily, running a little faster instead as he ignored the fuming blond. He could vaguely recall a time when he used to claim his life goal was to kill his brother and then revive his clan. Other people might think he meant it in a physical, have-sex-and-then-babies kind of plan, but he was fairly certain his young self had meant it in a more innocent, reputation kind of way. Bring back their pride, or something. Maybe now that he knew the truth it was better to keep his Uchiha heritage on the down-low.

“Try to behave in front of the Hokage at least,” he said when they landed in front of the building, entering after nodding at the guards.

“Fuck you,” Naruto muttered, bumping into his shoulder, disturbing Sasuke with the fact that they were almost the same height, even though he shouldn’t be so surprised since Naruto hadn’t been that far off the past few years or so.

He sometimes missed the times when Naruto was just a little runt, it was so much easier to push him around when he didn’t go into bijuu mode simply to prove a point.

“Baa-chan, what’s my mission today?!”

Tsunade slammed her fist onto her desk, glaring harshly at the two of them entering her office uninvited.

“Just once, Sasuke, do you mind teaching him how to knock?”

Sasuke looked out the window. Not his problem.

He could hear her grumbling something about the two of them, but chose to ignore that as well.

“Oh come on, what did I ever do to you? Did someone break your bottle of sake?”

Sasuke fought the urge to smack his hand over the idiot’s face. How he was going to be able to function at diplomatic meetings remained a mystery to him.

“I swear to god, you two will bring me an early death,” Tsunade muttered, rubbing her face tiredly.

Which was a little ironic in Sasuke’s opinion, considering how the both of them were the incarnations of the two brothers who actually started the whole mess with conflict in the ninja world, bringing not only Tsunade to the brink of death several times. Though, being a cynic, Sasuke was sure it would have happened eventually anyway.

“Just send your clones to the same places as yesterday,” Tsunade continued, crossing her arms around her bosom and sending him a contemplative look. “As for you, I guess you’ll get today off.”

Naruto’s eyes widened before he pumped his fist in the air, letting out a victory shout.

“Awesome, I’ll send them off right away.”

Too used to it Sasuke barely twitched when the room suddenly filled to the brim with Naruto clones, exiting through the windows and door as more appeared. Sometimes he sort of hated Naruto’s amount of chakra. On the other hand, having a couple hundred of Naruto’s clones doing most of the work meant that Konoha was almost back to its original capacity, with a few additional improvements. No Uchiha compound, for example.

“But, you’ll have to think of a speech to give tomorrow.”

Naruto’s triumphant look turned into chagrin, and some of the clones patted his back as they passed him.

“A speech? You’re kidding me! Have Kakashi do it or something!”

“Naruto,” Tsunade began, face stern and screaming lecture-to-come, “If you’re going to become Hokage you need to be able to speak in front of crowds, not to mention make them follow you and trust you. Just speak from the heart and you’ll be fine.”

Naruto groaned, pushing his hands down his pockets, attempting to make the blonde woman change her mind with begging eyes.

“No excuses,” she warned, eyes narrowed at him. “Make sure he’s prepared,” she added towards Sasuke, who raised his eyebrows and waited for further instructions.

Usually she sent him off together with one or a few of Naruto’s clones, making him do his share of work. The original Naruto was kept for Hokage lessons, though he wasn’t sure if they actually meant him learning anything or if it was just an excuse for Tsunade to skip doing the paperwork herself. At least that’s how it was according to her student.

“Alright, you’re dismissed,” she said, and he followed Naruto out of the window despite the Hokage’s protests.

“Aah, so nice to have a day off!” Naruto smiled, stretching his arms above his head once they’d landed on the ground.

“You still have to think of a speech.”

Naruto cringed, grimacing again. Then he seemed to cheer up, turning towards Sasuke with enthusiasm.

“I can do that later, let’s go train instead!”

Logically, Sasuke knew he should disagree and have the dobe do his work first, but on the other hand they hadn’t practiced in a few days and he could feel the crescent mark on his left palm itching at the thought.

“Fine,” he agreed, and they made their way out of the village.

xxx

A couple of hours later, in the middle of cursing the fact that she let Naruto go without doing any work, Tsunade got a visit from Inari.

“Umm, excuse me Hokage-sama, but Naruto’s clones disappeared and they haven’t come back yet like they usually do.”

She frowned at him. Whenever one of Naruto’s clones disappeared he’d notice and send a new one, unless it wasn’t necessary.

“Should he have?”

“Well, it was all twenty of them in one go, and it’s not like there was a reason for them to be dispelled. Tazuna said I should check with you.”

She nodded, clasping her hands in thought.

“How long ago?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes.”

She opened her mouth to answer when another knock was heard from the door, and one of the women in charge of the gardening squad entered.

“Naruto’s clones disappeared, I was wondering if-“

“Yours too?” Inari exclaimed, a little excited that something was happening. His usual job helping Tazuna with the construction work wasn’t very eventful, and could get a little dull after a year or so.

“And this was fifteen minutes ago?” Tsunade asked the woman, who nodded. “I suppose he’s training with Sasuke, maybe something happened. Inari, do you mind checking on them?”

Inari nodded, happy to get a break, and eager to see Naruto in action. He’d gotten to see some of the jutsu Naruto had used during the war, but not all of them since they were too powerful to use close to the village. He ran the whole way, trying to make use of his chakra now that he was starting to learn a few things about ninja stuff. If he could, he’d like to be one as well despite starting ten years late. Anything to be able to work with Naruto, the person he’d looked up to as a hero even before he became famous and recognized.

It took him maybe twenty minutes to reach the area specially designated for Naruto and Sasuke, the only sounds he could hear being a bird or two chirping. He entered a large clearing, crooked and singed trees surrounding it. There were broken branches scattered here and there, most of them full of kunai and shuriken, and some of the holes in the ground looked deep.

“Naruto?” he called, walking over the trampled grass and trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of something orange.

Maybe he was hiding? He kept a close eye on the ground, making sure he didn’t step on any traps or fell down a hole, coming to a stop when he found Sasuke’s katana reflecting sunlight to the far left of the area from where he stood. That was weird, he didn’t think Sasuke would carelessly leave his sword out in the open like that. Walking up to it he pursed his lips in thought, contemplating what to do. Figuring he should wait for a bit he sat down next to the blade, legs crossed and face towards the bright sun.

Breaks weren’t bad, anyway, and it’s not like he was actually worried about Naruto. If anyone could get out of trouble it was him.

Maybe ten minutes later a shadow fell over his closed eyes, and looking up he found Kakashi staring down at him with a serious face.

“You didn’t see them?” the silver-haired ninja asked, crouching down to his level and scrutinizing the katana.

“Nope. It’s just Sasuke-san’s sword.”

Kakashi nodded, thinking for a few seconds before standing up and pulling the blade out of the ground, weighing it in his hand.

“Let’s go back, they probably teleported somewhere and will come back later.”

Inari nodded, thinking he’d check up on Naruto later that day and ask where they went.

The problem was just that, later that day, Naruto still hadn’t returned…


	2. ...is neither dream nor reality

“What the hell was that!” Naruto yelled, trying to ignore the fact that he was crouched above Sasuke’s body on the ground.“Don’t tell me what to do, look what happened!”

“Nothing happened, now get off me,” Sasuke snarled, pushing at Naruto’s chest.

Bristling with anger and possibly something else he refused to acknowledge, Naruto got up and crossed his arms.

“We didn’t even teleport! That’s how much you messed it up!”

He could see the tick in Sasuke’s eye, but refused to back down when dark eyes narrowed to slits as Sasuke rose to his feet.

“Don’t even _think_ about-“

Sasuke’s words came to an abrupt halt as he took in their surroundings.

“What?” Naruto demanded, looking around them and seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

“I think we did teleport.”

“Huh? But we’re still in the same place…” Naruto trailed off, frowning as he turned his head back and forth as he scanned the area. “What happened to this place?”

“You mean what _didn’t_ happen,” Sasuke corrected him, wary as he took note of the fresh, green grass covering the entire clearing, all trees looking healthy with no signs of the damage their training had caused.

“This is kinda scary,” Naruto said with a grimace, turning slowly in a circle, fingers clenching around the fabric of his jacket. “But we’re still in the same place, right?”

“Looks like it.”

Naruto unconsciously inched closer to Sasuke, switching to sage mode so he could check the place for chakra.

“I can still feel Konoha,” he said, noticing several familiar chakra signals. “Uuh, wait, I think I can feel Orochimaru.”

Sasuke gave him a look that clearly told him he was stupid.

“You know he’s allowed to enter the village now,” he said, wincing when Naruto’s anger flared again and he shouted “I know that!” louder than necessary.

Then Naruto’s eyes widened, and stared at Sasuke for so long that he almost got a little worried.

“Do you think we travelled in time?” he whispered, face a shade paler.

“That’s impossible.”

Naruto swallowed, slipping out of sage mode and shaking his head as if to get rid of whatever he’d felt.

“Alright, but something here is pretty fucked up.”

Sasuke frowned at him, then turned to search for his sword. It wasn’t there.

“Well there’s no point standing here speculating,” he said, walking towards the village, Naruto unhappily following behind.

They reached the village gates without any incidents, no one taking notice of them as they entered through them.

“It looks a little different,” Naruto muttered, and Sasuke was inclined to agree.

Making their way through the crowd on the main street they searched for a familiar face that maybe could explain what was going on. At one point Sasuke blinked, turning his head to catch sight of a person they’d just passed.

“What is it?” Naruto asked, turning as well, but Sasuke shook his head.

He’d thought he’d seen… but no, that was impossible. Unless they really _had_ travelled through time, which sounded more than a little crazy to him. Sure, they were strong, but _time_? Nonsense.

“Oh look, there’s Ino.”

Naruto pulled Sasuke with him towards a flower shop, where Ino was busy arranging some flowers by the entrance. When they reached her she looked up, surprised for a moment before smiling shyly at them.

“Sasuke-kun, Menma-kun, I thought you were still on a mission?”

Sasuke didn’t really know how to react, not that he got any time since Naruto quickly grabbed his arm and squeezed it in warning.

“Hey Ino, yeah we’re uh, we just got back I mean.”

Naruto looked a little wild around the eyes as Sasuke glanced at him, wondering why he was playing along and what he could possibly know that Sasuke didn’t.

“That’s nice.” She smiled again, brushing her long blonde hair out of her face. “Oh, your mother came by just now, she should be home I think.”

Naruto was nodding, still gripping Sasuke’s arm tightly. He thanked Ino and started walking, pulling Sasuke with him impatiently.

“What’s going-“

“This shouldn’t be possible,” Naruto murmured, glancing around them before bringing Sasuke with him into a small alley. “Really, really shouldn’t be possible.”

“Speak up dobe, I won’t get it if you keep mumbling like that. Where the hell are we?”

Naruto’s eyes caught his, mouth open as if to finally explain but no words came out. Closing it again he shook his head slowly, worrying his lip between his teeth. Sasuke didn’t enjoy being kept hanging.

“Tell me. _Now_.”

“Okay but you’re not going to like it. I’ve been here before.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that.

“I think we’ve both been in Konoha before.”

Naruto let out a frustrated noise, one hand gripping his hair, the other still wrapped around Sasuke’s wrist.

“This isn’t Konoha. I mean, not _our_ Konoha. Madara sent me here. I mean Obito. Well okay Madara was controlling him but-“

Placing one hand over Naruto’s mouth, Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously as he leaned in.

“You do realize that Madara is dead, right? And I doubt Obito would send us here as a joke, so if you don’t mind, could you tell me _where_ exactly we are then?”

Blue eyes stared at him helplessly.

“I’m not sure,” he said, the words muffled under Sasuke’s palm. “I thought it was a genjutsu, like the moon thing.”

“The infinite tsukuyomi, you mean.”

“Whatever. This place is like Konoha but people are different, and the things that happened are different.”

“Like what.”

“You’re really calm you know, Sakura and I kinda freaked out when we got here.”

Sasuke removed his hand, placing it beside the idiot’s head instead. Patience is a virtue, they say.

At least Naruto started talking, explaining how he and Sakura had gotten there, how they’d met everyone’s fake copies that were them but not really, how Naruto’s parents were alive, how he’d fought his alter ego who also had the kyuubi…

“Itachi what?” he interrupted him with at one point, voice toneless and mouth dry as Naruto gave him a look that was far too understanding.

“Look, Sasuke, whatever people are here they’re not the ones in our world, okay? We just need to figure out a way to get back. Last time we had to beat Menma, but this time we got here by ourselves so… At least I think we did?”

“If you hadn’t tried to interfere with my rinnegan we wouldn’t be here, so yes I’m fairly certain you got us here.”

“Teme! You’re the one who wouldn’t let me try out my idea!”

They glared at each other, neither too happy being stuck in some strange world and not knowing how to get back.

“Hey! Maybe it works if we just do the same thing again?”

Sasuke doubted that. When Naruto screwed up, it was rarely as simple as going back and doing the same thing again. Maybe it would even get worse.

“Come on, I know you can’t think of anything better right now!”

But oh, how he wished he could. He trudged after the moron, not surprised this time when he saw someone walking past them wearing the Uchiha symbol on their back. He scrutinized the places they passed, shops and houses looking almost the same as he’d gotten used to the past year.

“Come on, Sasuke, hurry up!”

Naruto seemed uncharacteristically urgent about leaving. Something must have happened to make him not want to go back to this place, and Sasuke found himself wondering what. If even Itachi was here… how bad could it really be?

“Kyaaa! It’s Sasuke-kun! He’s back!”

He froze, as well as Naruto, both of them turning towards the female voices with horror.

“We need to run,” Naruto whispered, panicked eyes trying to find an escape route in the mass of people around them.

There were few things that made Sasuke scared or nervous. There were, however, a lot of things that made him uncomfortable. Large groups of girls were one of those things, and as they mysteriously got surrounded before they could even take a few steps, he felt highly uncomfortable.

“Sasuke-kun, it’s been so long! Did your mission go well?”

“Don’t talk to him!”

“I can talk to him if I want to, we went on a date remember?!”

“Oh please, Sasuke promised _me_ a date once he got back. Right Sasuke-kun?”

Sasuke stared at one of the girls, a short one with curly dark hair, and wondered why he’d ever agree to a date with her.

“Menma!”

The angry shout caused Naruto to wince visibly, and Sasuke followed his line of vision to see Hinata stomping towards them, rolling up her sleeves, body barely covered by tiny shorts and a fishnet top. Well, that was definitely different from the usual Hinata.

“Just what do you think you’re doing with all these girls!” Lilac eyes changed into white byakugan, her hand coming up to grab the front of Naruto’s jacket. “I’d kill you if you weren’t you!”

Alright, maybe he could understand why Naruto wanted to leave this Konoha as soon as possible.

“Ah Hinata, let go, I was just out walking with Sasuke…”

“Are you handing in the mission report?” The question was demanded rather than asked, and Naruto nodded weakly. “I’ll escort you there. And you,” she glared at Sasuke, “better behave.”

Not really sure what was going on, but at least saved from his supposed alter ego’s crazy girlfriends, Sasuke followed quietly, ignoring Naruto’s silent screams for help as Hinata lectured him. Maybe she and Sakura had switched places personality wise. It made him wonder if everyone had switched personalities, which might explain things. None of his training had prepared him for something like this, and Sasuke didn’t enjoy dealing with it. Cursing the dobe inside his mind he waited for Hinata to finish outside the Hokage tower, sending her an equally dirty look as the one she sent him before leaving. Bitch. What did he ever do to her.

“I guess sneaking out isn’t an option anymore…”

Sasuke shrugged, pushing past Naruto to enter the building. They might as well get this over with.

Inside Tsunade’s office, he wasn’t expecting her to watch them calmly from behind black glasses, her desk void of the usual piles of paperwork. Or maybe he should have. They were in reverse-Konoha after all.

“Menma, Sasuke, you’re not supposed to be back for another week,” she said, frowning when Naruto fidgeted and Sasuke stood impassive. “Did something happen?”

“Well, yeah, remember the whole thing with the Red Moon Scroll? I’m not Menma and I kinda ended up here again, with Sasuke, yeah…” He rubbed the back of his neck, a sheepish grin on his face.

“We just need a way to get back,” Sasuke added.

Tsunade looked concerned as she moved her glasses higher up her nose.

“Kushina did tell me about the ‘other’ Menma, but I didn’t think you would return. And this time you brought Sasuke instead of Sakura?”

“It was an accident okay?” Naruto crossed his arms defiantly, sending Sasuke a look as if to dare him to tell him it was all his fault again.

“We were experimenting with teleportation. Somehow, I think Naruto’s hiraishin and my rinnegan mixed and we ended up here.”

“Yeah! What he said!”

Tsunade blinked a couple of times, clasping her hands in front of her.

“You possess the rinnegan?” she asked Sasuke, who nodded once in response. “And a Menma who can use the hiraishin to the extent of entering our world… But I don’t recall you knowing how to use it last time.”

“I learnt it a few months ago,” Naruto told her, rocking back and forth on his heels a few times. “So, do you think you can help us?”

Tsunade hummed in thought, looking between them curiously.

“Personally, I don’t know anything about teleportation. You’d have to ask Minato, as well as Obito.”

“Obito is alive?!”

“Idiot, he’s alive in our world too.”

Naruto kicked him for that. It even hurt a bit.

“And where are they?” Naruto asked, seemingly eager to get this over with.

“On their respective missions. Well, Obito isn’t easy to get a hold of, but Itachi or Shisui might know. Minato should be back in a week.”

So it was true, Itachi really was alive and so was Shisui. What kind of world was this, where the massacre of his clan had never happened?

He heard Naruto slump next to him, muttering to himself. He tried to remain passive, like all of this was just a strange dream and they’d soon go back to their own world where everything was normal and girls preferred to admire him from afar. Very much afar.

But the fact still remained.

He was going to meet Itachi again.


	3. A mother's smile

While Tsunade asked a few questions about how, more exactly, they ended up in this world, Sasuke stared out the window lost in thought. The time in-between Itachi’s death and meeting him again thanks to Kabuto, he’d thought a lot about what he wanted to ask, and say. Not that he’d had the time to ask it all, but at least he’d thought about it. Now his mind drew a blank, wondering just what he was going to do when meeting the Itachi of this world. Would he be different? Would he have a bad relationship with his alter ego? How was he even supposed to explain the things that had happened to him…

When the door slammed open, he was pulled out of his thoughts, turning to see what appeared to be a woman surrounded by flaming red hair. Her eyes scanned the room before zoning in on Naruto, who was visibly shrinking back from the anger she emitted.

“Menma! The _nerve_ you have! Sneaking away on a mission when it’s your birthday! What do you have to say to your defense?!”

Naruto opened his mouth but no words came out, and instead he grimaced.

“Kushina, this isn’t-“ Tsunade was ignored as the woman, Kushina, stomped over to Naruto and grabbed the front of his jacket, shaking him.

“And just what do you think you’re wearing?! Orange??? Did you start your rebellious phase? Do you even understand how much of a pain it’s been to have to explain to everyone that you wouldn’t be home on your birthday?!”

A light went up for Sasuke. This was Naruto’s _mother_. Or, at least, the mother of his alter ego. Seeing her explained where he’d gotten both his temper and amount of chakra.

“Agh, no, you’re misunderstanding, I’m not-“

Kushina’s glare effectively made Naruto shut up, and he paled before surprise caught him as he was pulled into a tight hug.

“You stupid, stupid boy. Going away on a dangerous mission, without even telling me! And with that good for nothing Sasuke! You’re lucky not to be hurt!” She held him at arm’s length again, scrutinizing him. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

No. Sasuke did _not_ like what he’d found out about this world’s Sasuke so far. A bunch of girlfriends, being called good for nothing by Naruto’s mother? Unacceptable.

“This isn’t Menma, and I’m not that Sasuke either,” he said, and Kushina sent him a sharp look.

Her hair slowly calmed to fall down her back instead as she took in his clothes, then searched Naruto’s face again.

“I should have recognized the clothes,” she said, frowning. “What are you doing here again? We haven’t had any reports of the masked man returning.”

Her voice was gentle now, and she let go of Naruto. Then her frown deepened and she stretched out a hand to smooth down his hair.

“Hasn’t anyone told you to get a haircut lately?”

Naruto stiffened, face clouding over for a second before he seemed to get a grip on himself.

“Ah, we just ended up here, I guess,” he answered her, rubbing his neck again.

She stared at him for a while, then moved closer and whispered to him behind her hand.

“Who knew Sasuke could look so reliable, huh?”

Sasuke glared at them, especially at Naruto who seemed to have trouble containing his laughter. While Naruto still wore his orange jumpsuit, Sasuke had taken to wearing the standard ninja outfit, now with a chuunin vest since they passed the exam together just a month or so ago. Naruto had worn his for maybe two days before deciding it didn’t really work with his jumpsuit, and instead hung it on a wall in his apartment. Sasuke suspected it was because enough people had expressed their surprise that Naruto had been a genin the whole time.

“Kushina, now that you know how things are, do you mind letting Naruto stay with you for the time being? We’ll try to find a way for them to go back to their own world when Minato arrives.”

Kushina gave her a surprised look, then smiled at them both.

“Of course! You’re always welcome. Naruto, was it? And, Sasuke? Or do you have another name just like Naruto?”

“It’s Sasuke,” Naruto answered in his stead, returning her smile a little hesitantly.

“Alright!” She clapped her hands together, her smile widening. “You can leave them to me, Tsunade-sama!”

For some reason, Sasuke didn’t feel entirely reassured.

xxx

While they walked to Kushina’s house, Sasuke listened with half an ear as the other two reminisced over the last time Naruto was here. It seemed as if Menma hadn’t remembered any of the things he’d done while under Obito’s control. To Sasuke, it all seemed strange that he and Naruto would have been able to enter a world that Obito seemingly had created, a world that shouldn’t still exist. Or maybe, once it had been made, it simply stayed that way? It was something he could think about later. Right now, he was more interested in finding out the differences between his own world and this. Kushina had decided that they would have lunch with her, and then she’d escort Sasuke over to the Uchiha household where she was sure Mikoto would let him stay.

Hearing someone talk about his mother so casually felt surreal. Everything he’d lost existed in this world. What had Naruto said? That Obito had created it after Naruto’s and Sakura’s wishes, just like the infinite tsukuyomi would show you a dream world with everything you’d ever wanted.

He’d thought he’d curbed the worst of his longing, the part that brought about the most hatred. He thought he’d learnt to control it, in order to live in the peaceful world that Itachi had wished for. But knowing it was all here, in this world…

What did he really have to go back to?

“Hey teme, I never had time to tell you, but the Sasuke here is a total womanizer.”

Sasuke blinked, brought back to the present.

“Language, Naruto,” Kushina berated him, at the same time urging him to take another helping of the left-over curry she’d heated up for them.

“Right, uh, sorry,” he said, sheepish, probably not sure how to react.

Sasuke could understand. They’d both lived most of their lives with no one telling them to act decently.

“I figured,” he said, trying to ignore how Kushina kept giving him awed looks whenever he opened his mouth.

“You’re so quiet and well behaved,” she gushed, “Mikoto won’t believe her eyes! What a shame I don’t have a daughter you could marry.”

“What the hell!” Naruto protested, pouting when Kushina sent him a look to remind him, again, of his usage of curse words.

“Now really,” Kushina complained, waving her chopsticks at Naruto, “Our Sasuke is a very sweet young man, but just a while ago I caught him two-timing his three girlfriends with a fourth! He’s got no shame inside that pretty little body of his.”

Sasuke was appalled, and it must have showed on his face because Kushina laughed nervously, the same way Naruto always did.

“I’m sorry, Sasuke, it’s just that he gets on my nerves lately. He’s got half the girls in the village wrapped around his little finger, and the worst part is that the last months, he’s been following my Menma around!” She leaned towards him, eyes searching Sasuke’s. “What do you think? They used to argue all the time, but now they keep going on missions together.”

“Umm, maybe they became friends?” Naruto suggested, and Kushina fell back in her chair with a deep sigh.

“I’m just worried he’ll turn my innocent child into a skirt-chaser just like him.” She looked between them, her eyes pinning them down in their seats. “You’ll tell me if you notice anything, right?”

Naruto nodded, scared into cooperation, while Sasuke tried to stay neutral. He’d rather not get caught up in some kind of pointless drama. It was bad enough he’d have to suffer for his counterpart’s behavior.

xxx

 Closing in on the other Sasuke’s house, Naruto felt more than a little hesitant. He could clearly remember how it had felt the last time he was here, finally able to live the life he’d always wanted with his parents, only to realize he didn’t belong with them. He didn’t want Sasuke to have to go through something similar. Especially since his best friend had suffered through a much more traumatizing loss, and had almost ruined his life just to get revenge on his brother for it. The brother who had actually done everything for Sasuke’s sake. The brother that existed here.

Naruto was worried. It was a selfish worry, but it was the reason he hadn’t wanted to stay longer than necessary. Now, it seemed as if they’d be there for a while, and he was torn between feeling happy for Sasuke’s sake that he’d get to meet his family again, and worried that Sasuke would like them more than he liked their own world.

He didn’t want to go home alone, even if he felt bad for hoping that this world’s Mikoto and Fugaku would be awful people.

Every day he woke up trying to suppress the thought that Sasuke might have decided to leave, and every day so far he had smiled in relief upon seeing him. He didn’t want to lose that feeling. Part of him thought that he should just enjoy his time here, have some fun, find out what two Sasukes together was like.

The other part kept a close eye on Sasuke as they stopped in front of the door, Kushina grinning as she sneaked inside after telling them to wait there.

“Are you okay?” he asked Sasuke, knowing that sort of question was off limits normally.

Sasuke never answered questions about his emotional state.

“If you’ve got time to worry, try thinking of a way back instead.”

Naruto bit his lip, nails digging into his palms. Sasuke seemed tense, eyes alert and back straight. Even so, he could tell that Sasuke was excited. Few things made Sasuke look as alive as he did right now. Fighting was one of them. Learning how to teleport was another. And apparently, meeting his dead parents’ doppelgangers was another.

He had a vague memory of seeing Mikoto in a picture, but when she opened the door with a warm smile on her face, he was painfully reminded of Sasuke’s expression when he was his deepest in darkness.

Mikoto was beautiful, with dark, kind eyes and silky black hair, and her face was definitely where Sasuke got his good looks from.

“Hello, sweeties,” she said, opening the door wide, and he could hear Sasuke suck in a breath to his side.

This wasn’t going to be easy.


	4. Birthday part I

Sasuke woke up to the smell of pancakes invading his nostrils, and with a frown he turned to the side, curling up underneath the fluffy covers. It must be one of those strange dreams again, like when he dreamt that he and Naruto were boxes of instant ramen about to be eaten, and had refused to visit Ichiraku’s for an entire month. Clearly Naruto had a bad influence on his mental state.

There was a soft knock on the door, and Sasuke’s eyes shot open in time to see Mikoto sticking her head inside the room.

“Breakfast is ready,” she said, her sweet voice creating knots in his stomach.

That’s right. He wasn’t in his apartment, he wasn’t dreaming, but he was however surprisingly hungry.

“But don’t worry, you can sleep as long as you like. I’m going on an errand in a few minutes but I’ll be back soon again.”

He nodded, not sure he could trust his voice yet, and with a smile she stepped out and closed the door softly behind herself. Yesterday had passed by in a blur, chatting over tea with both mothers and Naruto, helping Mikoto make dinner, and then trying not to reveal exactly how things were like in his own world.

His head had been so filled with the thought that there was no way he could ever tell this version of his parents that they had staged a coup d’état and then died by Itachi’s hands that not much else had registered yet. And how could he? Even Fugaku was nice and caring and asked him if he’d mind helping out in the police force while he was there visiting. With Itachi working for Akatsuki – now that had shocked Sasuke, finding out that the mercenary group was not the evil organization he was used to – and his alter ego off on a mission, they were apparently a little short on staff.

Of course, he’d agreed. It was his childhood dream, after all, growing up into a ninja his father relied on at work. He wouldn’t let him down, even if, technically, this wasn’t his actual father.

It honestly surprised him that he was able to feel relatively calm about it all. Perhaps it was the hug Mikoto had given him, her smell familiar even though it had been so long that he couldn’t consciously recall it, perhaps it was the fact that they treated him like a person without a tragic past; either way it felt as if his bad memories had dissipated into thin air and the only thing remaining was a seven-year-old boy, eager to get out of bed and stuff himself full of pancakes.

A boy with no scars and no experience of pain.

And he wanted to be that boy, wanted to play the role of his alter ego whose only concern seemed to be which girl to date next. If only it didn’t feel like he was betraying Itachi’s sacrifice…

Inhaling deeply he shuffled out of bed, glancing at his clothes but opting to stay dressed in loose pajama pants and grey t-shirt with the Uchiha fan adorning his back that he borrowed from the other Sasuke’s closet. He ventured down into the kitchen, using the bathroom on his way down, throwing one glance in the mirror before deciding that he wasn’t going to think about who he was today.

Today, he was wearing casual clothes. Today, he was greeted by a brightly smiling Mikoto who kissed his temple and urged him to start eating. Today, he was going to ignore the painful lump in his throat that forced all difficult emotions to stay hidden inside his chest.

Today, he was going to _live_.

xxx                                

Naruto weighed back on his chair, an apathetic look on his face and half-eaten sandwich in one hand as he leaned back as far as he could before it threatened to fall and bring him down with it. He was staring up at the ceiling, thinking of Sasuke, when a strong hand gripped the top of his head and pushed downwards so that the chair landed on all fours again.

“Don’t do that, even if it’s your birthday,” Kushina berated him, swishing past him, apron secured around her waist.

“Sorry, bad habit.” he answered, rubbing his head and wondering if it was going to bruise.

“Really, what kind of sloppy person am I in your world if you have these kinds of habits?” she continued, waving a pack of sugar at him over her shoulder before turning around to focus on her baking again.

When Naruto didn’t answer she turned around, frowning at the look on his face.

“Naruto?”

He sighed, forcing his body to relax, lips pursed as he stared at the potted plant in one window.

“You’re dead.” he said quietly, still not looking at her, because he didn’t want to lie, and he didn’t want to pretend that everything was just peachy between himself and Sasuke or that the only worry waiting for them at home would be angry parents and missed workdays.

“But it’s fine, it’s fine, you were a real hero, and dad too. He was the fourth Hokage, actually.” He smiled at her, because while it was true that she was dead, she didn’t need to feel guilty over something that wasn’t hers to feel guilty for.

She was obviously concerned, but nodded slowly at him.

“I see,” she said, keeping whatever assumptions she made to herself. “But don’t think I’ll go easy on you while you’re here!”

There it was again, that feeling of longing, mixed with happiness. He didn’t know how to deal with it any better than the previous time he’d been here. But it wasn’t her fault, and he’d treat her better this time around.

“Sorry I was acting out last time,” he mumbled, stretching his hands out in front of him, his lost appetite not quite returned yet.

“It’s okay.” Her voice was gentle and understanding, face serious when Naruto glanced up at her. “You know, just call me Kushina if it’s weird to call me mom.”

She gave him a reassuring smile, and he gave her a weak one in return. Then she turned her back on him again, humming out of tune as she started mixing ingredients. It was only for a short while, however, because suddenly she faced him with an expression of intense curiosity.

“And your Sasuke… He was so much like Itachi! All quiet and cool and reliable… Please tell me he doesn’t fool around with girls?”

Naruto almost snorted out loud, because the thought of Sasuke doing that was laughable in so many ways.

“He doesn’t care about that stuff.”

“And you two are best friends?” When Naruto nodded she sighed, slumping back against the counter. “If only our Sasuke could be like that. He is _such_ a bad influence on my poor little Menma. I had high hopes that he would date Sakura, but it seems she turned him down. Which is why _your_ mission will be to get him back on track again! You can see it as payment for food.”

Naruto’s mouth fell open, then he closed it again with a grimace.

“Now don’t give me that attitude! Finish your breakfast and come help me instead.”

Groaning inwardly, Naruto wondered what he’d gotten himself into. He didn’t know much about Menma, but if they were anything alike, he doubted he would listen to advice. Especially when it came to a certain bastard. Turning the sandwich over in his hands he pouted silently.

He wished he could go see Sasuke.

xxx

“Sweetie?”

Sasuke paused, looking up at Mikoto while wiping a few beads of sweat from his forehead. It was unusually warm, but he didn’t mind. He’d offered to help out in the large garden behind the house, at the moment busy digging a hole where Mikoto wanted to plant a new apple tree.

“Some of your friends are here to see you.”

Ignoring the strange feeling those words inspired he nodded and stood up, taking off his gloves and running a hand through his damp hair. He figured it would be Naruto, and as he walked towards the hallway he wondered what he could want. Well, it was his birthday, sure, but it was still pretty early.

“Yo, Sasuke, what’s up?”

He stared at Shikamaru’s slouched form, one pinky scratching inside an ear. Obviously the opposite of him would be an idiot.

“We’re throwing a surprise party for Menma, and you better help out!”

It seemed like Hinata still held some sort of grudge towards him, which he now supposed might be because of what he’d been told yesterday, that his alter ego was apparently taking up a lot of Menma’s time. Which brought about the question of whether or not he should tell them that it wasn’t Menma, but Naruto whom they were thinking of.

“I’m not particularly interested,” he answered, because while he didn’t mind interacting with his family, he wasn’t here to make friends and play the role of some stupid guy who thought with his dick.

Three pairs of eyes stared at him in shock, Ino blushing behind her hand.

“But Sasuke-kun, Menma planned everything for your birthday, I think he would be happy if you helped out…”

On the inside, Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“I’m not the Sasuke you’re thinking of, and the guy you saw yesterday isn’t Menma.”

Hinata took a step closer, glaring at him.

“Then who the hell would you be if you’re not Sasuke?!”

“I’m another Sasuke,” he sighed, tired of the conversation already. “Go ask Tsunade if you don’t believe me.”

“Whoa, dude!” Shikamaru waved his hands in front of himself, eyes wide. “That’s crazy!”

“Another Sasuke... from where?” Hinata’s eyes narrowed into slits, and she stepped even closer to scrutinize his face. “But you sure seem different. And you don’t smell like cheap perfume.”

Sasuke was going to have a talk with his other self as soon as he arrived.

“Another Konoha, obviously.”

“Oh man! I can’t believe it! This is so cool!”

“Shut up!” Hinata smacked the over-excited Shikamaru on the arm, eyes still trained on Sasuke.

“Alright,” she said, ignoring the fact that Ino had stepped behind her and now shyly peeked over her shoulder. “Is your name still Sasuke?”

“Yes.”

“And the other Menma is still Menma?”

“Naruto,” he corrected, and she nodded before straightening up, arms crossed.

“Then we’ll just throw the party for Naruto. Which means _you_ are not allowed to bail on us.”

He was still going to refuse when Mikoto appeared behind him, asking what they wanted. And just like that, Sasuke’s afternoon looked very unpromising.

xxx

Naruto strolled through Konoha, dragging his feet and kicking the occasional pebble. He’d been kicked out of the house after a mysterious conversation Kushina had had by the door, after which she’d told him that space was needed in order to prepare his birthday dinner. Of course the first place he’d gone to was Sasuke’s house, where he’d been told that he was out with some friends.

There were so many things wrong with that sentence, and Naruto felt very confused. Sasuke. Out. With _friends._ Had something happened during the night and he’d woken up with the other Sasuke’s personality and memories? He sure hoped not. Things were bad enough without Sasuke forgetting everything that had happened.

He shoved his hands deeper down his pockets, happy he’d left his jacket back in the house but sweating all the same. For once the weather was exceptionally nice on his birthday, it was just his luck to spend it in a fake world. Or maybe not so fake, but he wasn’t sure which thought was more unnerving, that this place wasn’t real or that there actually did exist a world in which he lived happily with his parents.

“Naruto!”

He raised his head at hearing Sakura’s usual calling of his name, spinning around on his heels to see her jogging up to him.

“It’s so much easier to find you when you’re wearing orange,” she chuckled, her clothes the same he was used to with the exception of a cherry blossom pendant hanging from her neck. “I’m here to keep you company.”

Now Naruto’s confusion increased, but on the other hand it was possible that the old hag had told her what was going on.

“Like a date, huh?” He forced out a chuckle, rubbing his nose as he stared at her.

“Ew, gross,” she said, making a disgusted face. “Does the other Sakura like boys? I bet she likes Sasuke, he was giving me all these worried glances.”

Naruto blinked a few times in surprise, not sure what to comment on first.

“You met Sasuke? Where is he?”

“I’m not allowed to tell.” Snickering she tilted her head a little sideways, hands clasped behind her back.

This Sakura was acting kind of cute.

“Anyway, I’m starving and you look terrible. I mean really, orange?” She tsk’ed at him, eyeing his pants and black shirt with a green stylized Konoha leaf in the middle. “Menma has way more sex appeal.”

He couldn’t stop the heavy blush covering his face, spluttering a few words of nonsense before finding his voice again.

“What?!” he yelled, balling his fists inside his pockets. “There’s nothing wrong with orange! And you said you don’t even like boys!”

Sakura rolled her eyes, grabbing his arm and starting to drag him forwards along the road.

“I’m not blind, stupid. Let’s go eat first and we’ll see what we can do about it later.”

xxx

Sasuke could almost _feel_ a vein popping in his temple. One year in the constant company of a certain ramen-loving dobe had done wonders for his patience around other humans, but right now his biggest wish was to grab the closest balloon, poke the air out and then use the remains to choke someone. It wouldn’t be hard, the only problem was the whole murder-is-wrong thing that he sadly agreed with. To his left, Hinata was muttering dark curses while assisting Ino, arranging small bouquets of flowers to be set up around the house. Ino kept giggling at Kiba, who cut different silhouettes of cats from colored paper, using silly voices to play out scenes between them.

Where was he, a fucking nursery?

It didn’t help that Shikamaru was snoring loudly on the couch, utterly useless. Apparently these four were the only ones with spare time on their hands, though more would arrive in time for the party. Oh, he couldn’t wait. Kushina had left the house in order to buy more food, now that there was going to be an actual party, and he almost caught himself wishing she would hurry back and distract him from these maniacs.

And then there was Sakura, the cause for Hinata’s bad mood. In Sasuke’s opinion, she had seemed surprisingly normal, the way she looked at him neither filled with adoration nor with the sad and tentative feelings of friendship that he’d grown accustomed to lately.

“So Naruto is dating me in your world, right?”

Sasuke glanced to his left, still finding it difficult to get used to Hinata using threats rather than questions when talking.

“He’s not dating,” he sighed, listless eyes returning focus to the pile of non-inflated balloons in front of him.

Yesterday morning had started out so well, but now he was spending his first day as a free man by preparing a toddler party for Naruto. Though he’d probably love it.

“Why not?!”

Flicking his hair out of his eyes in an irritated gesture, Sasuke thinned his lips into a line and ignored her.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” She‘d grabbed his shoulder, and Sasuke’s sharingan flashed for a second, which didn’t deter her in the least.

“But I’m not talking to you,” he gritted out, finally having had enough.

He stood up, chair scraping against the floor, everyone’s eyes glued to his face.

“Ah, don’t be mad, Sasuke! Here, have a kitty.”

Ignoring Kiba as well he left them on their own, leaving the building as fast as possible. He jumped up on the roof, surveying his surroundings before starting to move. He figured he’d seek out Naruto, preferring his mindless chatter over overgrown children. He just hoped he wouldn’t run into any of his fangirls along the way.

xxx

At first he’d been happy for the company, and it was nice that Sakura was trying to make him feel welcomed, but a list of every cute girl in the entire village and their location wasn’t exactly information he needed. He listened silently, chin leaning in his palm and eyes glassy. Normally, Sakura would have caught on and hit him for not paying attention to her, but this version seemed happy to just have him listening. Maybe Menma did the same thing and she was used to it.

When she stopped talking it took him a while to notice, lost in thoughts of how to get home. She gave him a friendly smile and fluttered her eyelashes cutely at him, mimicking his posture but leaning on both palms instead.

“You and Menma are kind of similar,” she mused. “I mean, your Sasuke is very different from ours, and your body language is more crude than Menma’s but at least you both don’t care about girls.”

“I care about girls,” Naruto objected, “I just have a lot of things on my mind right now.”

“Oh?” She tilted her head, her smile turning a little mischievous for a second, as if she knew something he didn’t. “But that’s true, you need to find a way to go home” she added, straightening up again.

“Yeah, exactly!”

“Which is why, while you’re here, we should make the best of it!”

She beamed at him, and Naruto couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable. There was just something about that last sentence that sounded a bit off. When he found himself outside a hairdresser ten minutes later, it seemed as if the feeling in his gut had been correct.

“My hair is fine the way it is!” he told her, digging his heels into the ground.

“Oh come on, you look ridiculous. It’s sticking out everywhere.”

Naruto was honestly a little hurt. He thought he looked plenty cool. After all, all cool people had longer hair, like his dad and Sasuke. So sue him if he’d tried to grow it a little bit, it was his hair and he could do what he wanted with it. A sudden “Kyaaa!” interrupted his thoughts, and turning he found none other than Sasuke stalking towards them, pretending he couldn’t see the two girls waving at him to get his attention.

The relief Naruto felt upon seeing him was almost pathetic, but he’d gotten used to the feeling. A small voice in his head happily whispered to him that Sasuke didn’t look pleased at all.

“Hi again, Sasuke! I’m trying to convince Naruto he needs a haircut, what do you think?”

Sasuke paused as he reached them, glancing at Sakura, then fixating his gaze on Naruto’s head. There was an uncomfortable prickling feeling running down Naruto’s spine, and he glared back as if to dare Sasuke to agree with her.

“It’s just hair,” Sasuke shrugged, face as impassive as ever. “The only problem is if it gets in your eyes when you fight.”

Naruto glared harder. That answer was just typical for the bastard, having perfect hair that flowed all pretty in the wind and not even caring one bit.  

“Aah, you two are no fun,” Sakura complained, stretching with one hand straight above her head, the other bent. “I’m only acting on Kushina-san’s orders, you know.”

“Well, you can do it some other time,” Sasuke said, glancing back at the small group of girls watching them nearby. “Come on, Naruto, let’s go spar. I need to hit something.”

“No way, I’m under orders to keep watch over Naruto until six o’clock,” Sakura intervened, just as Naruto had started to nod eagerly.

“If you’re talking about the party, I couldn’t care less,” Sasuke dismissed her with, “But I’m sure this dobe here will show up on time if you ask him to. Now, we’re leaving.”

Naruto looked between them, completely lost. Party? Were they throwing him a birthday party? But why, if everyone already knew he wasn’t Menma... He followed Sasuke automatically, ignoring Sakura’s insulted shouting as they left her in the middle of the street. He’d rather have a party back home.

It took him some time to realize, but Sasuke was on his way towards their usual training ground.

“Is there really a party tonight?” he asked when they arrived, Sasuke immediately starting a warm-up stretch.

“If you can call it that,” his best friend muttered, which made Naruto extremely curious. “Just be back at your parents’ house before six.”

“Alright.”

Rolling a shoulder, Naruto worried his lip between his teeth, trying to ignore how their surroundings reminded him of where they were. There were so many things he wanted to ask Sasuke, and the party was just one of those. How had his night been, what was he thinking, why did he look like his only pair of chopsticks had broken just before digging in on some tasty ramen... Sometimes he really wished Sasuke wasn’t such a block of ice.

“Ready?” Sasuke asked a few minutes later, and Naruto nodded once, moving into position.

He might feel like sighing deeply now, but sparring with Sasuke always got him in a better mood no matter what. There was something so intensely satisfying about punching him in the face, and Naruto couldn’t help but grin, Sasuke sending him an answering smirk in return.

If he won, he was definitely dragging Sasuke to that party.


	5. Birthday part II

Sasuke didn’t enjoy parties. No, that came out wrong. He didn’t know he hated parties with such fierce passion until about an hour ago, when dinner had been eaten and Kushina had left them alone. A few people sat by the kitchen table, a few were on the couch and the rest were on the floor. Sasuke had chosen to stand, leaning against the partly open living room window in a corner and trying his best to ignore the conversations going on around him. He was surprised the small house had space enough for all of them. Somehow, it appeared that all of the “rookie nine” were there, plus Gai’s team and Sai. He’d gotten a headache trying to keep up with all the changes in personalities.

It didn’t help that the only thing they seemed to talk about was gossip and stupid things that had happened, telling Naruto anything they could think of. At least they’d given up on trying to make Sasuke join in, but he didn’t like the uncomfortable look on the dobe’s face. Though who could blame him, when he sat with Neji’s arm casually slung over his shoulders, and Hinata all but clinging to him on the other side.

Naruto hadn’t outright told him, but even Sasuke had snapped up on the fact that he’d rejected the Hyuuga heiress back home. And now the Hinata here was demanding answers to a lot of personal questions regarding the whole thing.

“Come on, Naruto,” Sakura begged, “Why can’t you just tell us what’s going on in your world?”

“Yeah!” Kiba agreed, “Like, I bet Akamaru is a cute kitty over there!”

Neji scoffed, and was that his hand casually wandering across Naruto’s shoulder over to Hinata’s, bold fingers caressing the nape of her neck? It must have been, because Hinata grabbed his wrist and all but broke it in half, making him scoot as far away as possible from her and Naruto.

Sasuke was itching to grab Naruto and get the hell out of there, especially when a drunk Shikamaru started giggling uncontrollably. He would have, too, if Naruto hadn’t made it very clear to him beforehand that it wouldn’t be appreciated. These nice people had taken the effort to prepare a party for him, and they needed to stay on their good side if they wanted any help to get home, blah blah blah. If Naruto hadn’t looked so uncomfortable, Sasuke might have suspected he’d said all that simply because he wanted to annoy him.

“If we’re opposites, would that make me bad at drawing?” Sai mumbled to himself.

“Sai, you’re not very good at drawing to begin with,” Ino giggled, apparently less shy now that she’d gotten some alcohol into her system.

Another thing Sasuke couldn’t understand. Getting drunk was basically like begging for trouble, and these weren’t medical ninjas like Tsunade, who could probably get rid of it all in an instant should they get attacked.

Though, when he’d pointed it out, they’d laughed at him and wondered who the hell would want to attack Konoha.

“I think we shouldn’t pressure him if he doesn’t want to talk” Chouji pointed out, and Sasuke was surprised to admit that so far, Chouji was the person in here that he disliked the least. Out of the alter egos, that is.

Naruto had stayed silent during the whole exchange, which in itself was a little strange. It felt weird to be in a room full of people and not hear his voice constantly growing louder.

“Oh, don’t be such a spoilsport, Chouji! I think we’re all dying to know! Who’s the strongest, who’s the prettiest?”

“And who’s dating me?!” Hinata interrupted Tenten with, boring her eyes into Naruto’s side.

It wasn’t the first time that evening that Naruto had glanced at Sasuke, but it was the first time he felt his eye twitch. If Naruto thought Sasuke would comment on this...

“No one is fucking dating you,” he, to his horror, heard himself say.

“I bet Sasuke’s still the prettiest,” Lee piped up, choosing the worst possible timing as everyone had gone dead silent, staring at the Uchiha.

Before he’d time to react, Naruto shot out of his seat, clapping his hands together hard.

“Okay, how about we do something else? Like, uh, an arm wrestling competition! We’ll see if any of you can beat me!”

Sasuke snapped his mouth shut again. He watched Naruto urge the others’ attention to himself instead of Sasuke, amused by the lengths he’d go to in order to make sure Sasuke was left alone. It happened a lot. In the end, Lee beat everyone, which wasn’t weird considering chakra use wasn’t allowed and his entire ninja career depended on him being strong without it. Naruto had taken off his shirt, wiping some sweat off his brow, muscles flexing as he demanded best out of three from Lee. It was surprising how few of the occupants in the room paid attention to the actual arm wrestling. Sure, he knew Naruto had a bunch of fans at home, but that was mainly because of his heroic actions, wasn’t it?

“Wow, your Menma is _ripped_.”

Sakura had sidled up to him, somewhere between the fourth and fifth rounds.

“It’s Naruto.”

“Yes yes, I know. You should probably keep an eye on Hinata, she might jump him. Though I can’t blame her, he’s definitely eye candy.”

“Did you start talking to me for a reason?”

He gave her a look, clearly annoyed, and her smile was a little smug.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you and your boyfriend.”

“You are all delusional,” he muttered. “Are relationships the _only_ thing you care about?”

She frowned at him, tilting her head as if trying to figure out the reason for his sour attitude.

“No need to be so uptight about it,” she said, leaning back against the window with a small sigh. “I know what it’s like to face prejudice. I like to think it’s worth it in the end.”

What the _hell_ was she talking about? Sasuke had no idea, and he wasn’t interested in figuring out. Fine, he’d promised he wouldn’t drag Naruto away from the party, or act rude (which he might have already failed at but he didn’t care), but no one could blame him for wanting a bit of fresh air. Turning around he pushed the window open the whole way and promptly jumped out, ignoring Sakura asking where he was going.

It’s not like he knew anyway.

He just really, _really_ felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin soon if he didn’t get out of there. If this was a dream it sure was a creepy one. He glanced back into the room, taking one look at Hinata practically drooling, and jumped up onto the roof. The whole situation was too surreal for him. One day he was contemplating staying in Konoha to give his support to Naruto, and the next he was thrown into this messed up world where everyone in their age group was a total maniac and his parents were loyal to Konoha, and Itachi… was alive.

“Teme, don’t just run off like that.” Naruto sat down next to him about a minute later, still shirtless, legs slightly bent at the knees and leaning to the sides as he supported himself with his hands behind him. “Sakura-chan got worried.”

“She’s crazy. They’re all crazy. I think I might be getting crazy, too.”

Naruto stared at him for a second, then leaned his head back to gaze at the stars instead.

“Yeah, I know the feeling. This place takes a while to get used to.”

“How long did you stay last time?”

“Hmm, a few days. It’ll be longer this time, huh?”

“Great,” Sasuke sighed, “trapped in this place with everyone obsessing over dating. No normal person talks that much about it.”

“No?” Naruto gave him an amused look. “You mean _you_ wouldn’t talk about it, but normal people probably would.”

“You don’t.”

“No, but I’m not exactly normal, either. And you seem to forget I was all about getting a date with Sakura-chan when we were younger.”

Sasuke had honestly forgotten about that.

“And if you had been paying attention back home, you would have noticed that it’s a pretty common thing to talk about. I mean, just last week Shikamaru was asked out by that girl in the decoding department, and when he turned her down everyone kept bugging him until he admitted he might have a thing for Temari.”

Eyes narrowing, Sasuke pulled the leg that wasn’t next to Naruto close to his chest, leaning his chin on it.

“I’d rather you hadn’t told me.”

Naruto was grinning now, giving him a poke on his arm.

“Why, jealous because people are too scared to ask you out?”

“No, I’m not an idiot compared to the people here. There are way more important things to focus on.”

The grin on Naruto’s face faded into a more serious look as they stared at each other.

“You think liking someone makes you an idiot?” When he didn’t answer, Naruto’s gaze hardened. “I told you things are different here. Maybe you and I can’t afford to slack off, but you can’t look down on the others for wanting to be happy. No one wants to be alone, Sasuke, not even ninjas.”

Sasuke averted his eyes, fingertips digging into the cool roof tiles. Naruto might not have said it, but he could hear the implied ‘not even you’ over the silence.

“Ugh, why am I even trying to explain this,” Naruto muttered, scratching his head. He sighed, but didn’t try to say anything else. Instead, they spent a few minutes simply sitting there, and Sasuke could feel himself calm down a bit. When Naruto’s head fell onto his shoulder, his only reaction was a raised eyebrow.

“Is it bad that I don’t want to go back?”

“You’re the one who said it was the polite thing to do to come here.”

Naruto grimaced at him, then turned his face to groan into his shirt.

“I’d rather just sit here with you. Well it would be better if we were sitting at home.”

“You _do_ realize there’s a festival for you at home, right?”

“That’s not for me,” Naruto dismissed it with, “It’s for the end of the war and stuff.”

“It’s still on your birthday.”

“Yeah… Do you think the old hag thinks I escaped so I wouldn’t have to do that speech?”

“Even you aren’t that stupid.”

Naruto tilted his head to glare up at him.

“Gee, thanks Sasuke. I feel so much better now.”

Sasuke shrugged, Naruto’s head bobbing with the movement.

“Aah, and I was gonna get you drunk and everything, all my plans got totally ruined.”

He grinned when Sasuke sent him a scathing look.

“Plus, I would have been able to buy those porn mags without having to use a disguise.”

His grin threatened to split his face in half when Sasuke paled. He’d never get over the time he’d found one on the floor in Naruto’s bedroom while waiting for the moron to get dressed. Funny how his memory liked to gloss over the fact that Naruto was a pervert.

“You are such a loser,” he said, Naruto hitting him for the comment.

“Hey! You’re talking to the student of the legendary Ero-sennin! I need to keep up the tradition. Besides, I mostly just use them for reference when I practice my techniques.”

Sasuke chose to ignore the ‘mostly’ in that sentence. It was bad enough he had those perverted techniques, and even worse that he tended to use them every chance he got. He’d even asked if he wanted to do a combo with him, and Sasuke had answered by not talking to him for two days. At least he never bothered to use them while they were sparring, knowing how much Sasuke disliked it. Both the female and male version, despite Sai dropping hints that they both preferred the male one.

He’d even shamelessly used it during the finals of the chuunin exam. He was one hundred percent sure that Naruto had made a bet with Konohamaru over it, because the dobe had been way too smug over that particular victory against an unsuspecting genin from Suna.

“Are you coming with me?” Naruto asked, the sound muffled because he’d buried his face in the crook of Sasuke’s neck now.

Normally Sasuke would have been bothered by the body contact, but the chuunin exam had been held in kumogakure, the second part taking place down in some tunnels and caves underneath a mountain. Turns out one of the strongest ninja in existence was afraid of the compact darkness, claiming every little sound that wasn’t necessarily an enemy team might be a ghost. He’d been clinging to Sasuke _a lot_ , and perhaps he got used to it.

“No.”

“But Sasukeee why not?!”

“Don’t hug me.”

It wasn’t technically a hug, but Naruto’s hands held on to Sasuke’s shirt and while he might have tolerated it in those caves, this wasn’t the same.

“But I’m cold.”

“So go inside again.”

To Sasuke, Naruto didn’t feel the least bit cold, and he used his shoulder to try and shrug him off. Naruto fought him for a few seconds, but when the presence of another ninja approached he stopped, sitting up straight again.

“Naruto, Sasuke,” Minato greeted them with as he landed in front of them, giving them a nice smile. “Happy birthday.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Naruto said, while Sasuke gave a nod.

“It’s very unexpected, but it’s nice to meet you again. And to meet you too, of course, Sasuke. We never got the chance to properly thank you for helping Menma last time.”

“Ah, well, that was…” Naruto trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. “No need to thank me.”

Minato beamed at him, then took a step back.

“Well, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I hope you’re enjoying the party, Naruto. I was thinking we can talk a bit tomorrow, I’d like to see you use the hiraishin.”

“Of course!”

As Minato disappeared as quickly as he came, Sasuke noticed Naruto staring after him.

“I’ll be helping out at the police headquarters tomorrow,” he informed, to let Naruto know he most likely couldn’t make it to meet Minato.

“Really? Are you gonna be okay?”

“You can stop asking me that.”

“I dunno, just now you said you were going crazy…” Naruto’s face was scrunched up in suspicion. “What if you have a brain fart and release all the prisoners?!”

He smacked the back of Naruto’s head, watching in satisfaction as he flew forwards, rolling in mid-air and landing feet first on the railing below.

“Teme!” He was going to say more, it seemed, but the front door flew open and an evidently drunk Hinata stalked over to him.

“Why are you shirtless?!”

“Uh, umm, I-“

“Aah, Hinata calm down, I’ve got his shirt right here.”

Sasuke wasn’t sure if he should be amused or downright horrified as Hinata ripped the shirt out of Sakura’s hands and lunged for Naruto. He supposed she wanted to put it on, but Naruto was jumping around her like she was trying to kill him.

“Hinata, I can put it on myself!”

The problem was solved by Sakura promptly whacking Hinata over her neck, rendering her unconscious.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get her home safely.”

“Uuh, Sakura-chan, I’m not sure I like the look in your eyes…”

Sasuke walked over to the edge of the roof, peering down at the other ninja as they started milling out of the house.

“I think everyone is ready to go home,” Chouji announced, dragging a snoring Shikamaru by his chuunin vest.

He had to admit it was almost impressive. It had barely been two hours or so since dinner finished, and they were already this drunk. He stayed where he was, watching them all drop off, Sai hugging Naruto a little too long to be decent. Naruto stared after them, then raised his eyes to frown at Sasuke.

“Are you staying over?” he asked, and Sasuke shrugged. “Then you’re staying,” the dobe concluded for him, flinging his shirt across one shoulder and entering the house again.

With a small sigh he followed after, figuring he’d allow Naruto to order him around just this once.

 

 


	6. Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you saw the post with older Naruto having a bandage on his right hand because of his mark, because I'm going to use that shamelessly in this story. Oh, and let's ignore the parts where actual canon doesn't coincide with my canon. Heh.

Blinking slowly, Naruto’s eyes tried to focus in the dim morning light sifting in through the curtains. He turned his head to the left, his body following after so that he faced Sasuke. Running his eyes over his relaxed features, he scooted just a tiny bit closer, though there was still a decent amount of space between them. He liked waking up next to Sasuke. The few times it happened made him feel like he was a morning person.

Because Sasuke was the most fun to tease in the morning, not to mention a sleeping Sasuke was a nice change from the usual, tense one. Sasuke was always on guard, somehow, always thinking _what if._ He felt a little guilty for forcing him to attend the party, but shrugged it off.

He was selfish enough to want Sasuke there on his birthday, besides, he was the only one there from their own world, and Naruto needed a distraction so he wouldn’t think of all the people that must be worried about them. If Sasuke was there, things were normal.

Sighing lightly through his nose, he lifted his hand to brush a few of Sasuke’s dark bangs from his face, the other ninja also sleeping on his side. He tucked them behind his ear, lips quirking when dark eyebrows slanted in an unconscious frown. Letting his fingertips trace down the side of his cheek, neck, over his shoulder, he felt something squeeze inside his chest at the thought of Sasuke trusting him enough to not wake up as he did. He paused with his palm flat against his chest, Sasuke’s heartbeat a steady thump, thump, thump against the circular mark in the middle of it. There was a slight tingle spreading across his skin as Sasuke’s body heat seeped through his shirt and into Naruto’s hand.

Then Sasuke stirred, and he retracted his hand, rolling onto his back again and pretending to sleep.

xxx

Gazing up at the impressive sand-colored stone building, Sasuke was reminded of the time he was little and asked Itachi why the shape resembled a cat. While Itachi had only smiled and said nothing, he had to admit that looking at it again, the resemblance was striking. The upper part was shaped in a half-moon, two round windows on each side for eyes, and there were two actual ears adorning the roof. In the middle was a tall protuberance of lighter color, a window split in many small glass panes covering most of the front, the Konoha police force symbol proudly hung at the top. Stairs as wide as the front of the building led up to the entrance, supportive pillars along the sides.

It was a building he’d seen many times as a child, but entered few.

Other buildings were scattered around it, creating a rather large compound, and somewhere among them was the prison for the less dangerous criminals. In his dimension, the whole thing had been rebuilt with a different design after Pein’s invasion, though the symbol with the four-pointed grey star and the Uchiha crest in the middle hadn’t been used in a long time.

He followed Fugaku inside, through a waiting room that was empty at the moment save for one ninja by an information desk who nodded at them with a polite smile. Fugaku might be the leader of the police force here as well, but he was nothing like the stern father he’d grown up with.

“In here is where most of the work is done,” he informed in a low voice, pushing open a large door to reveal a spacious room filled with desks in neat rows, almost all of them occupied despite the early hour.

Though, Sasuke had been allowed to sleep in a bit, due to Naruto’s birthday.

It took his brain a while to process the view that met him, because seeing all these Uchiha clan members in one place was like a strange dream. Some of them he recognized, others he didn’t. There were also a few non-Uchiha, but it seemed as if tradition held true.

“Fugaku-taichou, here are the reports you requested.”

Sasuke eyed the man that had approached them, recognizing him as one of the people that had confronted Itachi once about his loyalty towards the clan.

“Thank you, Inabi,” Fugaku said, accepting the papers and leafing through them distractedly.

“Oh, Sasuke! It’s been a while, how are you?”

Inabi was smiling at him, and Sasuke had to force down the urge to question him about the things he’d said to Itachi. His brain knew that this was an alternate dimension, and that here, people that should be dead weren’t and hadn’t done the things he could remember them doing. It didn’t help his subconscious reactions, however, and he clenched his teeth to force down the uncomfortable feeling.

“Fine, thank you,” he forced out, probably not sounding very convincing because the other man frowned slightly.

To his luck, Fugaku ushered him further inside towards his office, no one else bothering them along the way. He had to swallow several times, trying to push down the memories of some of these ninja being ten years younger, lying dead all over the Uchiha compound.

“You look a little pale, is everything alright?” Fugaku asked once they were safely inside the office.

Sasuke didn’t know what to say. _Sure, I’m just having trouble separating memories from reality._ If this could be called reality.

“Hn,” his supposed father answered when he nodded, not pressing the issue. “At first I’d thought to ask that you help out with some reports, but Naori requested an assistant while doing her rounds so you will be helping her, if you don’t mind.”

“That’s fine,” Sasuke said, eager to get out of there again.

He didn’t think he could survive sitting in that room for hours, surrounded by living ghosts.

“I’ll call her, then.”

Fugaku got up, exchanging a few words with someone outside the door, then returned to sit behind his desk.

“I haven’t had the time yet to explain the situation to everyone, it seems Tsunade-sama isn’t sure whether we can spread the information or not. However, considering the difference in personality, I don’t think anyone would believe that the two of you are the same person.”

Sasuke almost snorted at that.

“I figured we would tell anyone who demands to know, and not make an issue of it for the time being. I will explain things to Naori.”

Nodding again, Sasuke wondered if she was named after the woman Itachi had described to him, the ancestor that used the Izanami. He couldn’t remember someone with that name, but it was highly possible that there were members of the Uchiha clan that existed simply because this world hadn’t been affected by wars and causing many to die prematurely.

He sat down in one of the chairs, listening with half an ear to Fugaku explaining about current issues and actions being taken to solve them. There didn’t seem to be much going on, though it appeared that a few criminals had escaped during Menma’s attack on the village and they were still tracking them down. Other than that, Konoha had received an unexpected amount of missions lately, and several members of the police force had been asked by the Hokage to help.

He almost wished he’d declined helping out, though he couldn’t think of a reason for doing so. All he knew was that, while this world seemed to offer the life he had expected for himself as a child, it also left a bitter aftertaste inside his mouth.

xxx

“I’m very impressed,” Minato said, and Naruto felt his face heat up as he received the praise. “I haven’t tried teaching Menma yet.”

“Well, I just really wanted to learn it,” Naruto answered, grinning as he sat down on the grass in the middle of a training ground. “I can take a person with me, too.”

Minato nodded, sitting down as well. They’d spent the past hour comparing their use of the technique, and Naruto was very happy to get tips directly from Minato. There weren’t really anyone else in Konoha who knew how to use it.

“You’re a skilled ninja, Naruto. Maybe when Menma meets you, he’ll put a little more effort into his training.”

“Well, I worked hard for it! I can use sage techniques too, and-“ he chuckled, embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to brag.”

“Oh, no, that’s fine. So, you’re a jounin, then?”

Naruto grimaced.

“Uh, well, I’m supposed to take the test in a year or so. There were a lot of things happening, and, I was off training and stuff too.”

Admitting that he passed the chuunin exam just a few months ago didn’t really sound so good, in his opinion. He didn’t want to brag, but it would be annoying if people thought that his chuunin status reflected his skills in any way.

“So you got delayed?”

He nodded, sighing inwardly. It was so difficult to explain things without getting into the whole story of Sasuke and the war.

“It would be very interesting to see you spar with Menma when he comes back, I’m sure there are many differences between your fighting styles.”

Thinking back to their previous fight, Naruto realized there was something that had been bugging him for a while. Namely, the fact that it had been a full blown Kurama vs Kurama fight.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“But of course!”

“If Menma has Kurama, how is it possible that Kushina is alive?”

Minato looked at him in contemplative silence, crossing his legs to sit more comfortably.

“Well, by Kurama I assume you mean the Kyuubi?” When Naruto nodded, he continued. “When Menma was born, the seal was weakened and it tried to escape. We managed to stop it, by first sealing the part still remaining within Kushina inside of her, and then sealing the escaped part inside of Menma.”

“So they both have one part each?”

Naruto was gaping. Sure, his dad had sealed the Yin part within himself and the Yang part within Naruto, though he now possessed both halves. To think that here, almost the same thing had happened without any help from Obito…

“Yes, but Kushina can’t use her part. It’s only for safe-keeping. And Menma can only use a small part of its chakra.”

“But when I fought him, he could… no, that was probably because of Obito…”

“Obito?”

Naruto winced. Well, shit.

“The masked man, I mean.”

“The masked man was Obito?!”

Minato looked positively upset, and Naruto wasn’t surprised.

“Not _your_ Obito. I didn’t mean to tell you. A lot of things happened, but everything is fine now back home, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

The crease between Minato’s brows was still deep, and Naruto lowered his eyes. He supposed it would be impossible to keep everything secret, especially if they had to stay for a while.

“It seems,” Minato started slowly, “that a lot of things are different between our worlds. You mentioned that I was the fourth Hokage, too.”

Naruto bit his lip, flexing his right hand. The bandage covering it served as a painful reminder of all the things he’d gone through to get where he was now, and he wasn’t looking forward to an eventual explanation being forced out of him. Minato hadn’t questioned him when he’d asked to swing by a shop for some new bandage, having discarded the old last night. It was only a question of time, though, before someone asked about it.

And it didn’t help that Sasuke had a matching left hand.

xxx

Once Fugaku had explained things to Naori, who seemed to be in her early twenties, she took him to a changing room past a long corridor. She dug through a few cartons, glancing at him now and then in order to measure his size. She settled for two sizes in the end, handing them both to him and declaring she would wait for him outside.

Two folded standard ninja shirts in hand, he wondered why he needed to switch from the one he already wore. Though, he supposed, it would look better if he wore the correct symbol on the sides of his arms. He slipped out of his vest and shirt, holding up the two new ones to check which would fit. Picking one, he turned it and stuck his arms inside, pausing before pulling it on.

By wearing this, he’d be fulfilling one of his childhood dreams, in a sense. He could remember the feeling of pride, knowing his father was the leader of the police force, certain that one day, he’d be the same.

Inhaling deeply, he wound his arms all the way through the sleeves, pulling it on in a swift move. It fit, and he ran a finger over the symbol on one arm, feeling the unfamiliar shape of it. Thinning his lips he grabbed his vest and wasted no time putting it on again, leaving the other shirt on top of a box and bringing his own outside with him.

“Oh, you can put it in an empty locker, if you want,” Naori said, all business, and Sasuke did as told.

It was nice to be paired with someone who didn’t seem overly friendly with him, though perhaps she was just professional. He’d almost believed that no one here was. 

“We’ll be taking a tour over the east side of the wall, check in with a store owner that recently experienced a burglary on the way there, and a few other minor things,” she explained as they left the building at a slow walk, making no move to speed up the process of getting there.

“Are we walking there?” he asked, not thrilled about the prospect of parading through half the village on their way.

“Of course!” She seemed surprised by his question. “In order for the villagers to feel safe, we need to be seen, as opposed to the other ninjas on duty.”

She was smiling at him, expression curious, and Sasuke felt he shouldn’t have asked. The less people guessed about him the better.

As they walked, quite a few people turned to stare after them. Not just girls, but others as well, and it made Sasuke wonder if they were surprised by the sight of ‘him’ all serious while on duty, dressed in police attire.

“Hmm, Sasu-chan sure has a lot of admirers,” Naori mused, and Sasuke froze mid-step.

“What did you call him?” he asked, voice weaker than he wanted to admit.

“Oh, sorry,” she chuckled, waiting for him to defrost again. “He was such a sweet child, and old habits die hard. Though, I suppose when he grows up a bit to be more like you, I won’t be able to call him that anymore.”

Her smile wasn’t flirtatious, and Sasuke was thankful that she seemed to think of him more as a little brother than anything else.

“We’re the same age, though,” he said, limbs relaxing again as she gaped at him.

“Really? I thought you were past twenty, at least!”

He raised an eyebrow at her, continuing to walk.

“Must be the difference in your personality,” she said when she caught up with him. “How strange.”

“Most of the people here have a different personality compared to where I’m from” he offered as explanation, not wanting her to ask any questions regarding how they grew up.

She thought about it for a while, but decided to drop the issue.

“Alright, then.” She pointed to a building about a hundred meters away. “That’s where we’re going now. I apologize beforehand, because you will most likely be bored out of your mind listening to that old woman talk. I know I will be.”

Sasuke didn’t mind. He’d take a boring woman any day over the stares he got from people who seemed to have nothing better to do. At least it took his mind off other things, like why he’d had the lingering feeling that Naruto had been much closer just before he woke up…

 


	7. A simple touch

“Welcome!” Mikoto smiled as she opened the door, ushering all three of them inside. “Sasuke is in the bath, but he should be down shortly.”

Naruto glanced at the adults as they all tried to fit into the relatively narrow hallway, shucking off his shoes and shuffling his feet as he moved towards the end of it.

“Umm, I’ll go talk to Sasuke,” he announced, turning before they could stop him and taking the stairs two steps at a time.

The door wasn’t locked, so he pulled it open and entered, leaning against it in a casual pose.

“Hey, teme,” he greeted Sasuke with, only his head and part of his neck above the water in the bathtub as he sent a half-hearted glare in Naruto’s direction.

“Are you going to start bothering me when I’m taking baths from now on, too?”

Naruto grinned, taking a seat on the edge of the tub, facing Sasuke and pulling one knee up close to his body, running a few fingers through the water surface.

“I just thought we could have some quality time without the others.”

Sighing through his nose, one of Sasuke’s hands emerged from the water to push Naruto’s foot off the edge.

“One: I’m not sure I want to know how you messed up this time, and two: your foot smells.”

Making an indignant sound, Naruto pouted and put his foot back in childish protest.

“What makes you think I messed up? I mean, fine, I might have told Minato that Obito was the masked man that controlled Menma, but…”

Sasuke pinched his nose with closed eyes for a few seconds, then glared at him.

“Great. We’ve been here, what, three days? I should have known.”

“Hey! It just slipped out, okay? He’s not gonna start spreading it around the village or anything.”

“No, but I’d rather not get an order from the Hokage that we have to tell them exactly what happened.”

They stared at each other, Sasuke with a frown and Naruto with pursed lips. They hadn’t exactly made any agreements on what to tell and what to keep to themselves, though both of them seemed to agree that the less the better.

“It won’t happen again.”

“No, forget it.” Sasuke shook his head slowly, sinking a little deeper into the bath. “We can’t keep it all secret, anyway. But try not to say too much.”

When Sasuke fell silent, Naruto took the opportunity to search his face for any clues as to how his day had been. There was a light flush on his cheeks, the ends of his hair dipping into the water but otherwise starting to dry, eyes half-lidded as Naruto was blatantly ignored.

“Haven’t you been in there a little long? I mean, it’s so hot in here that even I feel like I’m getting a heatstroke.”

Sasuke’s glance was irritated, clearly stating that he should mind his own business. Naruto was fairly certain that Sasuke’s health very much fell under the category of ‘his own business’ however, and so he bore his eyes into the Uchiha until he rolled his, pulling out the plug using toes.

“Happy now?”

Sasuke stood up, water splashing in the tub as it fell from his lean body. It took Naruto a few seconds of blinking in surprise before he realized that the hand Sasuke held out was demanding him to give him a towel.

“I know I offered to teach you the Reverse harem technique, but I think you wouldn’t need it. You could just get naked instead.”

The look on Sasuke’s face made Naruto think he was going to facepalm, which would have been extremely hilarious but also make him suspect he was dealing with an impostor.

“Every time I start thinking you’ve grown up a little, you prove me dead wrong.”

“What the hell! What kind of backhanded compliment was that!”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

“Tch, you’re such a bastard you know that?”

Sasuke was drying his hair, having stepped out of the tub, looking down at the still seated Naruto now with a haughty expression. Crossing his arms and letting his foot hit the floor, Naruto glared back as hard as he could.

“Whatever, I know you used to wear that open shirt because you thought it made you look hot.”

“Wrong. It made it easier to use the curse mark stage two.”

“Liar.”

“Think what you want.”

“Thanks, I will!”

He grinned again, if only because he knew it would piss Sasuke off. And sure enough, there was that familiar tick in Sasuke’s eye as he started pulling on clean clothes, standard ninja pants with an open, high collared white t-shirt.

“You like the other Sasuke’s clothes, don’t you?”

“This isn’t his.”

If the words hadn’t already confirmed it, Sasuke’s stiffened posture spoke for itself. Naruto’s grin faltered, wondering just what made Sasuke pick one of Itachi’s shirts.

“Everything was purple or too tight, so Mikoto gave me this.”

Huh, so that explained it.

“I thought you liked purple?” Naruto teased, not enjoying the newfound tense atmosphere. “I mean, you had a skirt and everything.”

“It wasn’t a skirt,” Sasuke bit out, hanging the towel on its place and gathering up his dirty clothes.

“It even had a _ribbon_ \- whoa!”

Sasuke had grabbed the front of his jumpsuit jacket, holding him in a threatening grip above the bathtub, where water was still busy pouring down the drain.

“It wasn’t a skirt.”

Naruto tried chuckling, but Sasuke’s grip only tightened as his glare turned vicious.

“But if I tell you I liked it?”

Sasuke seemed to fight with himself for a moment, but eventually dropped Naruto so that he was forced to grab the edges to prevent himself from getting wet.

“Why don’t you stay here and drown while I go down for dinner.”

“Oh come on, not cool, Sasuke! I was just messing with you!”

The other ninja didn’t say anything, but Naruto could tell he wasn’t that angry. Or, at least he hoped so. Hurrying after Sasuke he patted down the back of his clothes, making sure he wasn’t wet anywhere. The door to Sasuke’s room slammed shut in his face, but he simply groaned a little and went inside anyway.

“Give me that,” he ordered after closing the door again, Sasuke sighing but throwing the roll of bandage to him anyway.

He gave Sasuke a light push so that he sat down on the bed, and pulled up a chair to sit in front of him. Taking a light hold of the pale wrist stretched out towards him to pull it closer, he started covering Sasuke’s hand with the bandage. He hummed a tune, probably something annoying judging by the look in dark eyes. All it did was make him hum a little louder.

“Don’t do that,” Sasuke said, an almost imperceptible pause at the end that only strengthened when their eyes locked and Naruto fell silent.

A year ago, Sasuke had told him the same thing. It had been afterwards, with everything returning to a relatively normal state, that they found themselves inside a tent with Sakura tending to some of Kakashi’s more minor wounds as they waited for Tsunade to join them. They’d been sitting on the ground, exhausted, and Naruto had crossed his arms over his bent knees, laying his head over them to quietly stare at Sasuke. Dirt covered them both, and he had traced a faint trail of blood leading down Sasuke’s left arm, first with his eyes, then with his fingertips. He could feel his –friend’s? rival’s? it didn’t matter– gaze on him, watching him as if too tired to object. Sasuke felt warmer than he had expected. When he’d reached a pale hand, he’d closed his own over it, palm flat over its back.

Sasuke had started, and tried to remove his hand but he’d gripped it tight.

“ _Don’t do that_ ,” Sasuke had spat, tugging hard enough to force Naruto into letting go.

“ _Why not?_ ” It wasn’t that he absolutely needed to hold Sasuke’s hand or anything, but if it got him talking he’d take the chance.

Sasuke had struggled for words a moment, turning his head awkwardly to the side.

“ _I don’t need to see all that again_.”   

His voice had been low, as if he didn’t want the others to hear, and Naruto had gotten to his knees in confusion. Leaning to face Sasuke again, he’d frowned at him.

“ _See what?_ ”

“ _Your regrets._ ”

It had taken him a whole minute to try and figure out what he’d meant. He’d forgotten all about it, hadn’t exactly realized that everyone was able to see what ran through his mind at the time. His cheeks had heated up, but he’d balled his fists and moved to sit in front of Sasuke.

“ _I’m not going to apologize for the truth,_ ” he’d said with conviction, searching Sasuke’s face when he still refused to look at him. “ _But I wasn’t doing anything just now_.”

“ _You were,_ ” Sasuke had gritted out through clenched teeth. “ _When you touched me._ ”

He’d hesitated then, opening his palm to stare at the mark in the center. Was that it? He’d placed his left hand on Sasuke’s arm for comparison, and at first the other ninja had tensed. When Sasuke’s eyes had flickered to meet his, he’d figured that it really had been the mark. Holding Sasuke’s arm steady he’d placed his right palm over it again, and a second later Sasuke had pushed it off like it burned. When Naruto put it on his wrist warmer instead he’d almost felt like it was some sort of childish game, but Sasuke hadn’t reacted with the fabric separating skin.

They’d stared at each other for a long moment, until Naruto had gotten up to ask for some bandages from Sakura. That time, he’d only covered Sasuke’s palm instead of entire hand, taking great care as he secured the knot.

Now, he lowered his eyes to Sasuke’s hand again, finishing his task and picking up his humming as well. Sasuke didn’t bother to tell him off again, and he folded the knot underneath a layer of white bandage with a contented smile.

“There you go,” he said, Sasuke only pursing his lips slightly as they got up to head downstairs.

xxx

Dinner was surprisingly nice. Naruto was entertaining everyone with stories from the time he went travelling with Jiraiya, a safe topic it seemed, and Sasuke was fine just sitting back to listen. Kushina knew her fair share of stories, too, and the two of them kept the atmosphere light and cheerful. Sasuke had to wonder, however, if Naruto was pushing himself. He’d been so serious since they arrived, which wasn’t unusual for him to be, but this was different. Of course, they were in trouble, but Sasuke would have thought that Naruto would try to enjoy himself while they waited.

Instead, it seemed as if the amount of rare moments they shared where Naruto seemed to be able to read every thought inside his head with little effort had escalated in number. Naruto may have proved himself to have grown out of his twelve-year-old attention-deprived goofy phase long ago, but Sasuke was starting to think that either something bad had happened last time Naruto was here, or they were in more trouble than they appeared to be. Not that Sasuke took the situation lightly, but watching Naruto laughing and joking now made him realize the absence of it the past few days.

Or well, absence was perhaps the wrong word. It was more a feeling that told him there was something wrong with Naruto. Was it because of his birthday? Sasuke didn’t know. Sure, they were stuck here and Naruto had responsibilities, too, but that still didn’t fully explain it. And the way Naruto had looked at him while putting on his bandage…

He was thankful that Naruto had never tried to show him his memories again after that first time, and had never asked to see Sasuke’s. He got the impression sometimes that Naruto wanted to, and he wasn’t sure what to think of that. Usually, he brushed all these thoughts off. Better to focus on the things he knew, and the present.

When the topic changed to Minato and Naruto’s training session earlier that day, he focused on the conversation as Fugaku questioned Minato about the situation.

“Well,” Minato explained, “it seems strange to me that Naruto would be able to use the Hiraishin to move to an entirely different dimension. First of all, you’d need a seal on something here, but the seal you were aiming for was on Sasuke’s sword, wasn’t it?”

He directed the last part at Naruto, who nodded, his expression attentive.

“And we didn’t move from the spot we were standing in, either,” he said, looking at Sasuke for confirmation.

“We did fall,” he reminded the dobe, raising an eyebrow when Naruto flushed angrily.

“But that was your fault!”

“What happened?” Minato asked, and Naruto made a grimace.

“Sasuke wanted me to stand still in front of him so he could practice entering that weird dimension like Obito can do, but it was my turn so I wanted to teleport, and then he grabbed me and we fell.”

“Not exactly what happened, but close enough,” Sasuke commented with a raised eyebrow.

“Teme,” Naruto muttered, leaning back in his chair with crossed arms.

“Language, young man!” Kushina berated him with a stern look, causing him to wince slightly.

“That reminds me, Sasuke. Tsunade-sama never told me what teleportation technique you were using?”

Sasuke glanced at Minato, then at Fugaku and Mikoto who seemed to share some sort of look. As Uchiha, they would of course know the conditions for developing the Mangekyo Sharingan as well as the Rinnegan. Unless things were different here.

“We meant to ask about that…” Mikoto started, her serious way of saying it causing everyone to look between them. “Only Obito can use the Mangekyo Sharingan, and Madara is the only one known to recently have possessed the Rinnegan.”

“Oh, so Sasuke used one of those?” Kushina asked, oblivious to the tension in the room.

“The Rinnegan, yes,” he answered, guessing that Tsunade had already told his parents.

“And, it’s rare?” Kushina trailed off, having asked only because no one explained, Minato placing a hand on her arm to stop her from asking more.

“What about Kakashi?” Naruto asked.

“Oh, so you know about that? No, he can only use the Sharingan,” Fugaku told him. “Obito forbid him to develop it further. Considering how he likes to overexert himself…”

… _he would go blind in no time_ , Sasuke finished inside his head. So that was one thing that didn’t seem to have changed, though it was with surprised relief that he’d taken the news of neither Itachi nor Shisui possessing it.

“I’m lost,” Kushina admitted, Minato agreeing with a strained smile.

“I think this might not be a proper conversation for the dinner table,” Fugaku said with finality, examining Sasuke with troubled eyes as he spoke.

Averting his eyes, Sasuke caught Naruto staring at him, and again he had that feeling of Naruto being able to tell exactly what was going through his head.

“On a brighter note,” Mikoto said, smiling gently, “Itachi sent a message that he should be home tomorrow for a visit.”

The blue in Naruto’s irises seemed to darken as he kept their gazes locked for a few more seconds. Then his features relaxed into a pleasant smile matching Mikoto’s, though his eyes were still boring into Sasuke’s.

“Sounds great!” Naruto said, and Sasuke had to wonder what he was thinking in that moment.

As for what he thought himself… He’d rather not delve into that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you for the lovely reviews. Itachi next chapter! And what to do about Naruto... poor boy.


	8. The number one distraction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I'm very nervous about this chapter. It's taken me ages to finish it, and I really don't know what to think about it. But yeah, here it is. Also, on Monday uni starts again, which means I don't know when I'll be able to write the next chapter, considering I have a few other things to write first. We'll see, and I'm sorry for the sort of cliffhanger.

There was a coil of anticipation in Sasuke’s stomach that he did his best to ignore throughout the day. Thankfully he’d been able to spend the day accompanying Naori again, which was good because it was easier to deal with someone he didn’t know from before. He didn’t need to be constantly reminded of his past whenever he looked at her, as opposed to Fugaku and Mikoto. He’d gotten the feeling last night that soon, he would need to face a serious conversation with them. It gnawed at the back of his mind, and he ran through several possible scenarios inside his head as he followed Naori around the village. She seemed to have been having a great day, conversing with him in a light tone, greeting many of the villagers with a smile.

He tried to push thoughts of Itachi out of his head as he changed shirts when his shift had ended, staring blankly into his locker, though without much success. It had been a year since he last saw him, during their fight with Kabuto. It hadn’t been enough time, not even close, though their whole relationship seemed to be defined by those words. Always being told ‘ _Next time, Sasuke’_.

And now he was facing that time. This was that next time, though in another dimension, with another Itachi, an Itachi that was still alive and healthy… He swallowed thickly, zipping up his chuunin vest. One part of him really thought like that, that this was his chance to have the brother of his childhood back, but it was struggling hard against the part of him that steeled itself to face a completely different Itachi, a stranger. _Another Sasuke’s brother._ What was this Itachi like? He was dying to know, and hadn’t dared ask someone. From what he’d snapped up, he seemed to be thought of as strong and serious, but there was a slight disappointment over the fact that he’d left the village to work for Akatsuki instead. He was curios to find out the reason, if Itachi would tell him.

Walking through the main room was still an uncomfortable experience, and he fixated his gaze on the door so he wouldn’t need to look at anyone. He breathed a small sigh of relief as he stepped outside, having passed the lobby as well, taking the few steps to the left needed to reach Naruto.

“You sure took your time changing.”

Sasuke shrugged, glancing down at the blond where he sat on the uppermost step, arms crossed over his knees.

“No one told you to pick me up.”

“Teme, would it kill you to say a simple thanks?”

Instead of answering he started descending the stairs, listening to Naruto getting up with a grumbled “Tch, bastard,” and allowing a tiny smile to graze his features. He didn’t want to admit it, but Naruto’s presence lifted a layer of tension from his shoulders. He carefully schooled his expression back into indifference when Naruto fell into step beside him, arms behind his neck and lips pursed in thought.

“You know, it was kinda nice at first to get some vacation, but now I’m starting to get bored.”

 “Then find a job.”

“Easy for you to say! Tsunade wouldn’t let me do missions, and I don’t have a dad who can pull strings like yours.”

“Hn.”

“I have to sit at home bored out of my mind and you get to walk around the village and be all cool and stuff…”

“Are you sulking? Poor dead last, can’t get a job.”

“Hey!” Naruto had jumped in front of him, bristling with anger, and Sasuke pushed his hands down his pockets, one eyebrow mockingly raised. “You can’t call me that, I’m stronger than you!”

“Hn, I’ll call you what I want.”

Naruto opened his mouth again, but snapped it shut with an incredulous look on his face.

“Wait did you just-“

“Naruto!”

Sasuke felt what little amount of good mood he was in disappear, Hinata approaching them quickly from across the small square in front of the police building.

“Hey, Hinata, what are you doing here?” Naruto didn’t sound very enthusiastic as he turned around to greet her, blocking Sasuke’s view of her momentarily.

“We’re heading over to Ichiraku’s for an early dinner, the others are already there.”

She came to a halt next to them, an expectant look on her face as if Naruto’s natural response would be to immediately go with her. Which it usually was, whether she could know that or not.

“Oh, yeah, I heard from Sakura-chan. But I already told her I’m spending the evening with Sasuke.”

Not that Sasuke could remember agreeing to that, but he wasn’t about to disagree. Hinata seemed to rub him the wrong way no matter what, and he gave her a cold stare when she put her hands to her sides and leaned threateningly towards Naruto.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re coming with me.”

“Umm, but-“

“Don’t even think about it.” Sasuke reached a hand out to intercept the one Hinata stretched towards Naruto’s shirt, grabbing her wrist and squeezing it in warning.

“What the hell!” She pulled her arm free, directing her newfound anger towards him. “Are you his guard dog or something?”

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, fed up with her attitude and most likely overreacting, he stared her down with a look of contempt.

“What I am is none of your business. You, however, are _nothing_ to us. His answer was no, now get lost.”

He could see Naruto gaping at him from the corner of his eye before he was forced to sidestep Hinata’s hand reaching out again, this time with her fist enclosed in chakra. Placing one foot behind the other, he twirled around and promptly ran a knee into her back as she passed him, sending her flying towards the ground. Perhaps it was the fact that his nerves had already been tightly wound as it was, perhaps he’d just had enough of her, either way it felt highly satisfying to see her coughing on all fours.

“Sasuke!” Naruto’s voice sounded worried and reprimanding all at once, and he sighed in response.

“Whatever, let’s go.”

He started walking again, Naruto catching up but sending glances over his shoulder towards Hinata.

“You didn’t have to be so rude,” he said, a frown on his face, teeth biting on his upper lip.

“No, but I chose to be. Maybe if you weren’t such a pushover I wouldn’t have needed to.”

“What?!” Naruto exploded, shoving at his arm. “You can’t just go around kicking people whenever they bother you! Everyone’s been really nice to us and-“

“In what way has she been _nice_?” he bit out, clenching his fists within his pockets. “You need to stop being so scared of people disliking you. Not everyone is going to anyway, and why would you need to stay on _her_ good side? You have enough people liking you already, you can afford to be a little rude if it gets the point across.”

Naruto was gaping again, at a loss for words apparently, because he was making strangled noises while trying to keep up with Sasuke’s fast pace. He forced his gaze away from widened blue eyes, gritting his teeth. What kind of nerve did that girl have, demanding Naruto’s obedience like that? And then that moron, letting himself get pushed around, by someone whose neck he could snap with the flick of a wrist. Though, he tended to act the same way around Sakura at home, too.

“I’m not _scared_ ,” Naruto objected, and Sasuke heaved a frustrated sigh. “You can’t solve every conflict with violence!”

“Since when do I do that?”

“Since now, apparently! And what do you mean enough people like me already, like, having some friends makes it perfectly fine to be an asshole towards everyone else?”

“No _,_ ” he started, stopping when Naruto did, sick of the subject, sick of Hinata, sick of the nausea threatening to invade his throat if his thoughts lingered too closely on the inevitable meeting with Itachi later.

“Then what the hell does it mean, that you’re the only one allowed to boss me around?! You like me enough so I don’t need other people to?”

The response that had started forming in Sasuke’s throat got stuck on the way out, his brain trying to wrap itself around the meaning of Naruto’s last words. What even…?

Naruto was scowling at him with defiance, a challenge, and possibly something less self-assured. The air between them seemed to bristle with that last something, confusion hitting Sasuke like a brick wall to the face. He had enough to deal with at the moment without Naruto asking weird things out of the blue. Why were they even talking about this?

Oh, right, he was reminded of the reason when Hinata came charging, spinning violently with her Gentle Fist technique aimed towards him. _Really._ He jumped, avoiding her just in time, an annoyed twitch in his eye as she stood to face him in a battle stance. Sighing, he shifted his feet just enough to be prepared for another attack, but Naruto rushed to stand between them before anything happened.

“Okay, stop that!” he said, turning his head back and forth to make sure they stayed in their places. “Don’t fight over stupid things.”

Hinata glared past Naruto for a few more seconds, Byakugan focused on Sasuke, but then she thought better of it and relaxed.

“Fine, but this ugly jerk better watch it!” she spat, lifting her chin defiantly, as if to dare Sasuke to quietly accept her words.

“What did you just say?!” Naruto faced Hinata now, taking a step towards her, shoulders tense. “Sasuke is _not_ ugly!”

“He’s the ugliest guy _I’ve_ ever seen!”

“Ugly guys don’t have fan clubs!”

 “Then I guess he proved you wrong, didn’t he!”

They were both yelling in each other’s faces, and Sasuke stared at them in dismay. It was, honestly, strange how Hinata seemed to hate him so much. The only logical explanation was that his counterpart had done something to her and now she was confusing them, just like she apparently confused Naruto with Menma.

Naruto was radiating poorly contained anger, and Sasuke was just about to break them apart when a new voice cut through the strained atmosphere.

“Oi oi, what’s this, I’m jealous. Your brother is always in the middle of these lover’s quarrels, isn’t he?”

The voice belonged to a large man, with bluish skin and sharp teeth, whom Sasuke had a vague memory of meeting once during an episode he much preferred to forget. Next to him, however…

“I’m sure he didn’t ask for it,” Itachi replied, one eyebrow raised in curious amusement as the two of them approached.

Itachi looked… Sasuke had to swallow, inhaling deeply when Itachi stopped a few steps away. His Akatsuki cloak was casually open at the front, revealing the outfit underneath to be dark, standard pants tucked into light grey shin protectors, and a v-necked black shirt over a mesh undershirt.  He wore his forehead protector, with a line cut straight over the leaf, his hair tied up like always with a few bangs hanging loose at the front. His necklace also hung around his neck, a thin chain decorated with silver plates shaped into stylized eyes.

He looked the same, too much the same, and Sasuke kept his eyes trained on his chest so he wouldn’t have to see his face. He could sense Naruto coming up to stand next to him, close enough for their clothes to brush, and he focused on that feeling rather than the chaos inside his mind.

“It wasn’t a lover’s quarrel,” Naruto disagreed, crossing his arms and most likely grimacing as well.

“Haha, is that so?” the blue man asked, amused.

Kisame, Sasuke remembered his name to be, Itachi’s partner in Akatsuki. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck starting to rise in discomfort, and he bit into the inside of his cheek.

“Who would fight over someone like _him_ ,” Hinata added, stepping up next to Naruto. “Now that Itachi’s here, he can just hang out with him instead and you can go with me.”

The last part was obviously directed at Naruto, who sighed and rubbed his cheek in annoyance. Then he, surprisingly, threw his arm around Sasuke’s shoulders, managing to startle him out of his trance.

“Nope, I’m going with Sasuke. So, Itachi, are you busy right now? We’ve got some stuff to talk about.”

Sasuke blinked, glancing towards Naruto’s grinning face. This dobe… Sighing through his nose, he shrugged out of Naruto’s arm, braving a look at Itachi. His brother had quirked one corner of his lips, a good-natured expression on his otherwise serious face.

“I was wondering when you’d get around to it,” he said in his deep voice, Kisame snickering for no apparent reason. “I’ll just tell father I’m back, but why don’t you continue on home and we’ll meet there?”

Naruto nodded, and Sasuke forced down the lump in his throat when Itachi smiled at him before heading towards the building behind them. He was acutely aware of Naruto’s presence next to him, his chakra all but vibrating with unease despite the happy front he’d put up. Straightening, he turned in the other direction and started walking at a brisk pace, figuring Naruto would follow and hoping Hinata wouldn’t. He stared ahead but saw nothing, his mind filled with unwanted memories. People stepped out of the way as he plowed through them, Naruto apologizing left and right by his side, tugging at his vest a few times to maneuver him around larger obstacles.

Hinata must have given up, because there were no further interruptions as they made their way through the village. He vaguely recognized someone calling his name, but left Naruto to deal with it.

“I think it was one of your relatives,” Naruto said as he caught up with him again, “because she gave me some dried plums for you.”

Sasuke didn’t react, but it’s not like he needed to. It was when they reached their destination that it struck him that Naruto could have just teleported them there. If he knew the dobe, there was no way he hadn’t already marked his room. He went inside the house, up the stairs, and sat down on his bed. Naruto, like always, had followed him and hovered by the doorway. One look and the other ninja shut the door with a huff, then made himself comfortable in the armchair by one corner, bag of plums dropped to the floor.

His posture was terrible, with one leg draped across the armrest, arms hanging over the sides, lower lip jutting out in an annoyed pout as he glared at the ceiling. Sasuke thought idly of Sakura’s comment that he needed to get a haircut, and silently agreed. Running his gaze over Naruto’s slouched form was a lot better than dwelling on his brother though, and it wasn’t the first time this past year that he’d used him as a distraction. Naruto had skipped his jacket again, wearing a black t-shirt one size too big that he didn’t recognize. There was a smudge of dirt on his left knee, but overall his appearance was unusually clean. Often he or Sakura needed to make a pointed reminder that washing machines existed for a reason. One time Naruto had walked around in the same mesh shirt for a week simply to annoy them.

“What,” Naruto asked in a flat voice, looking for all Sasuke knew like he was sulking again.

“Nothing,” he replied, knowing it would bother the other.

“You were staring at me.”

“And?”

Naruto crossed his arms, sinking lower into the cushioned chair and muttering something underneath his breath. Leaning his elbows on his knees, Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.

“Meeting dead people is weird,” Naruto said, changing the subject and causing another wave of emotion that needed to be suppressed.

“You seemed fine,” he pointed out, clasping his hands so that they hung in front of his knees, jaw tensing.

“Yeah, sure, so did you. I mean, it’s one thing in the middle of a war, but here it’s like, they act as if they’re part of your life. I got too comfortable last time I was here.” He stretched, arms above his head as he slid down to half-lie in the chair. “I don’t know, it’s just weird.”

Sasuke could only stare as Naruto frowned up at the ceiling, squirming around until he found a better position. Then Naruto turned his head, catching Sasuke by surprise with how serious his expression was.

“Your dad will probably tell him what’s going on. So, at least you won’t be forced to pretend. That’s the worst part. It feels good for a while, but then it just sucks.”

Blinking slowly, Sasuke heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, elbow digging painfully into his thigh as he leaned on it.

“I’m fine,” he insisted, giving blue eyes narrowed in disbelief a tired look. “I don’t need your so called advice.”

“Then do you need a hug?” Naruto stretched his arms out, and Sasuke twitched.

“Get the fuck out of my room, Naruto.”

Grin wide now, Naruto wiggled until he was practically upside down, still stretching his arms out and signing for Sasuke to come over. Gritting his teeth, he got up and stalked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. He wasn’t angry, not really, but he didn’t like how vulnerable he felt right now, and how easily Naruto saw through him. Besides, Naruto’s mood swings were giving him a headache. He might have grown up since the time they were Kakashi’s students, but what their sensei had said still seemed to hold true in Sasuke’s opinion: Naruto was the number one most surprising ninja.

He leaned against the door, his bones feeling like they were sagging underneath his skin. It didn’t take long before he could hear Naruto shuffle over to the door, and open it just a little bit, enough for Sasuke not to fall seeing as he still leaned against it. Turning his head he stared at Naruto, who stared back in silence for a minute or so, fingers tapping hesitantly on the wood as he held it still with his shoulder.

“You’re my best friend, Sasuke. You know you can talk to me.”

It wasn’t the first time Naruto had said it, wasn’t the first time Sasuke broke eye contact either, to stare at the opposite wall instead. From below them, he could hear the front door opening, and for a moment his lungs ceased to function.

“I mean it,” Naruto said, but Sasuke clenched his fists and pushed himself off the door.

He took a few steps, but paused, waiting for Naruto to follow.

“It’s fine,” he repeated, frowning when Naruto placed his hand lightly over the small of his back.

The touch only lingered for a second or two, but it was enough in terms of supportive gestures. Not that Sasuke needed one of those.

“Alright then,” Naruto replied, his tone light as he walked towards the staircase,” I always wanted to properly meet your brother anyway.”


	9. Support needed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's awful but last chapter I forgot to tell you that I wrote a spin-off on tumblr. It's smut. Go read it if you haven't, you can find it here on [ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5680528/chapters/13086106) in the extras.   
> More Itachi finally, I got a question last chapter over why Itachi's forehead protector has that cut through it, and that's because it was like that in the movie. But I made up my own explanation.  
> I'm just happy I managed to write, which I shouldn't have, I'm sure my grades will suck next weekend on my exams... Whatever. I wrote some more drabbles on tumblr too, hehe...

Facing Itachi the second time was somehow easier than the first. Not more pleasant, but yes, easier. Maybe because he now knew their true identity, and apologized for not having realized it before. Sasuke couldn’t help but think that  _his_ Itachi would have noticed before they even opened their mouths to speak. They sat on the porch, drinking some homemade juice that Itachi had found in the fridge, and Sasuke stayed silent while Naruto explained how they’d ended up in their predicament. Kisame kept giving him amused looks, especially every time Naruto had turned to him for confirmation. Itachi listened with a serious expression on his face, not bothered when Naruto wouldn’t answer some of his questions.

“This is certainly intriguing,” Itachi concluded, leaning back on one hand and placing his empty glass beside him. “We didn’t receive much of an explanation last time, but I had my guesses.”

“Yeah,” Kisame agreed, “I thought Itachi was cracking up when he said the fight had been between Menma and some alternate version of him.”

“Hmm, well, I don’t know if Obito can help you, but I can help you find him.”

“That’s great, thanks,” Naruto said, looking relieved. “We’re kind of causing trouble for everyone now.”

Kisame let out a bark of laughter, the large sword on his back squirming when his shoulders shook slightly. “Trouble is what we live for,” he said, patting Naruto’s head and grinning at the indignant look it earned him.

“Well I prefer the opposite,” Naruto retorted with a huff, crossing his arms, and Sasuke couldn’t help but make a small disagreeing noise. “What, it’s true! I just keep getting dragged into it, ‘s not my fault…”

“I’m sure,” Itachi smoothly agreed, but a glance told Sasuke he seemed amused as well.

For some reason, the whole situation didn’t sit well with him. It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but definitely surreal. There was just something about the casual way Itachi lounged against the wall, the cloak left inside neatly folded on a chair but his forehead protector still in place.

“Why do you have that line through the leaf symbol?” he asked, everyone pausing to look at him curiously.

He hadn’t meant to ask, but it bugged him. If this Itachi hadn’t betrayed the village, what was the point of cutting through the village’s symbol? Kisame’s forehead protector had a similar line, but neither of them seemed bothered by the question.

“It simply means that as members of Akatsuki, we still belong to our respective villages but don’t take orders from them. We’re a separate entity, neutral towards the villages.”

Sasuke nodded slowly, narrowing his eyes for a second before averting them. He decided not to ask anything else, even though he’d like to know. There were so many differences between this world and his own, and underneath the unease he felt curiosity bubbling. If he could, he would like to question Itachi in private. He was just torn between wanting to know, and dreading having to tell him why he wanted to know. Thinking of the past had never gotten him anywhere good, and while he still had trouble shaking it off he at least tried to ignore it nowadays. It made life simpler to live, if anything.

“That’s right,” Naruto said, changing the subject, “I never thanked you for the help properly last time.”

“That’s fine,” Itachi waved him off, and Kisame shrugged at him.

“We got paid, so no problem.”

“Okay…” Naruto looked a little doubtful, flicking his eyes between the two older men.

Maybe Naruto, too, was feeling a little awkward in their presence. He hadn’t acted strangely, but he wasn’t entirely relaxed either. It could be like he’d said earlier, about meeting dead people feeling weird. Instantly, visions of Itachi’s last moments flashed before Sasuke’s eyes, and he was forced to take a deep breath to steady himself. The memories didn’t hurt as much anymore, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed them.

Things were quiet for a minute, and Sasuke chose to stare up at the sky where clouds were now gathering. The weather was still warm, but he preferred to keep the chuunin vest on as often as he could ever since he’d received it. It served as a good reminder for where his loyalties now stood, and some days Sasuke needed that reminder. Right now, however, it reminded him of how things should have been instead. Like here. Things should have been like they were here.

 There were sounds from the front of the house, and Itachi smiled again.

“It seems like mother is already here,” he said, getting up on his feet. “I promised we’d help her with dinner.”

“Uuh, I’m not very good at cooking…” Naruto mumbled, making a grimace but standing as well.

Kisame burst out laughing again, shaking his head and cracking his neck slightly once he’d stopped.

“I wouldn’t mess with Mikoto’s cooking if I were you,” he advised, heading inside without waiting for them to follow.

“Don’t worry, Naruto. She’ll find something for you to do.”

Naruto nodded at Itachi, but hesitated with a glance towards Sasuke.

“I promised to fix some things in the garden, I’ll come inside later,” he lied, wanting a few minutes to himself.

No one disagreed with him, even though Naruto looked like he wanted to. Turning his face away again, he waited for them to walk inside before getting up. Walking across the grass he headed for a small artificial spring, the spot rather secluded but in view of the porch. There was a pond in front of it, and he sat on his haunches to stare down at the few koi fish swimming lazily in the water. They varied in color, spotted with red and orange and black, and he thought it must be nice to be a fish. No need for thinking, and no blond ninja coming back to hover in the doorway leading to the porch to spy on him.

He put one finger into the cool water, startling one of the fish close to it. He wished Naruto would either join him or stop staring. It seemed as if no matter what he did, Naruto was never far away, never losing sight of him if he could help it. He supposed he’d brought it upon himself. At moments like these, it didn’t feel annoying, but rather like he had a well-meaning babysitter with a knack for worrying too much. If Sasuke didn’t want to socialize with this world’s Itachi, he would have said so. When Itachi’s presence joined Naruto’s on the porch, he turned to roll his eyes at Naruto’s reluctance to let him pass.

Sure, his lungs felt like someone gripped them tightly as Itachi neared him, and he focused unseeingly on the artfully placed stones in the middle of the pond surrounding the fountain. It still didn’t mean that Naruto helped him by telling Itachi not to talk to him. His supposed brother paused next to him after brushing Naruto off, then sat down with crossed legs to calmly observe his face. Neither of them appeared eager to speak, and Sasuke stubbornly refused to start.

“I got the feeling that your question wasn’t so much about what this line means,” Itachi finally said, pointing at his forehead, “as it was about why I have it at all. Am I correct?”

Sasuke said nothing.

“When I saw you before, I was surprised that my brother was dressed in his chuunin vest. He hates it, as far as I know, and I thought that perhaps father had told him off for not taking his job seriously. The two of you seem very different in that aspect.”

Again, Sasuke didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure what he could say, without revealing too much.

“Judging by your reaction towards me, I’d say that my counterpart is either someone you have a bad relationship with, or he’s dead.”

This time, Sasuke looked up with a sharp frown, not happy with how much Itachi was guessing already.

“The less you ask, the better,” he said, taking care to keep his voice devoid of emotion.

“Better for whom?”

Sasuke clenched his teeth, but gave in and sat down to face Itachi.

“For everyone. For me. We’re not here to swap stories.”

“I thought you didn’t know why you were here?” Itachi didn’t seem worried, in fact, he looked far too understanding as he held Sasuke’s gaze in his. “If it makes any difference, feel free to ask anything you wish about me.”

“Do you tell him everything?” The question left his mouth before his brain had time to stop it.

“You mean Sasuke?” When he nodded, Itachi gave him a thoughtful look. “I tell him what he has business knowing.”

Lips thinning into a tight line, Sasuke broke eye contact. This Itachi was eerily similar to his, if you disregarded the apparent difference in strength, and his mind was starting to mix the two up. When two gentle fingers against his chin tilted his head back towards Itachi, he looked to him in surprise.

“I can’t guess what happened to you, Sasuke, but your eyes resemble mine more than my brother’s. You’ve been through a lot.”

Oh, if he only knew the irony of that statement…  Sasuke sighed through his nose, convincing himself that the simple touch wasn’t something he had missed in too many lonely moments.

“Yes,” he admitted, letting his defenses relax for a second. “I am nothing like your brother, I think.”

Itachi smiled then, moving his fingers to poke between his brows, effectively causing Sasuke’s eyes to widen.

“Perhaps not, but I am like yours it seems, and I don’t want things to be awkward between us. So please rely on me, even if it’s just a little.”  

xxx

_Okay, Kurama, we’re having an emergency meeting right now._

Barely a second after throwing the thought out inside his mind, Naruto was staring up at the large fox inhabiting his body. Kurama was lying down, paws crossed and head resting on top of them, an unimpressed look in his eyes.

“What’s the emergency, you’ve been here for days already.”

“Yeah, but it’s about Sasuke! He-“

“Not again,” Kurama groaned, flicking his ears irritably. “He’s all you think about, how much fun do you think that is for me, huh?”

“What!” Naruto spluttered, feeling his cheeks heat up as he scowled at the fox. “Are you listening to my thoughts or something?!”

Kurama let out a mixture of a snort and a sigh, and he would have probably rolled his eyes too if he hadn’t closed them instead.

“No, that’d be pretty gross. But you seriously worry too much.”

Naruto crossed his arms, fists clenched as he bit his lips instead of retort immediately. Sure, Kurama was a good friend, but he didn’t think he’d take well to hear some of the things Naruto wanted to call him right now. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have cared, but he was stuck in this alternate world, and Kurama was the only one besides Sasuke he could speak to freely. And Sasuke wasn’t talking, so…

“It’s just, I don’t know what to do. Sasuke being here is just bad on so many levels. And he obviously wasn’t too happy meeting Itachi… I hate seeing him like this.”

Kurama opened one eye, staring in silence at his dejected face for a few seconds. A few of his tails swished behind him, settling into a more comfortable position.

“I still think you worry too much.”

“Yeah, well, you already said that,” Naruto replied, voice testy, and he promptly sat down in front of the cage.

“Because you needed to hear it again. Brat.”

Letting out a frustrated groan, Naruto rubbed his palms over his eyes, feeling tired suddenly. He’d gone home after dinner, but it felt as if his mind had stayed with Sasuke in his room. What was he doing? Was he thinking of Itachi, was he hurting? And what exactly had Itachi said that caused Sasuke to all but forget how to speak throughout the rest of the evening? Naruto had no idea, all he knew was that his whole body felt like it was prickling with unease.

“I just want him to be okay,” he whispered, mostly to himself, but Kurama of course heard him.

“You’re talking about the guy who managed to kill his brother and live with it, I doubt seeing a copy of the same brother will cause some sort of breakdown.”

Naruto inhaled sharply, and it felt like his lungs were stung by Kurama’s words. He couldn’t think of anything to say to that, because he didn’t want to admit the first part. Not that Sasuke had lived happily or anything, but he still hadn’t returned to Konoha afterwards… He gritted his teeth, pushing away all thoughts of the past. He might have been too late a few times, but Sasuke was back and he refused to admit that he was scared of losing him still. Even so, his throat hurt at the thought, and he bent his knees and hugged them to his chest.

“I don’t like it,” he mumbled, “I don’t like Sasuke being here.”

“Well, I don’t like the Uchiha brat at all, and never did, so…” Kurama hesitated, and Naruto could feel his gaze on him, and hear the click of his tongue when Naruto let his forehead connect with his knees. “Sheesh, you’re looking like it’s the end of the world. What happened to that never ending spirit of yours?”  

Naruto didn’t know. He just felt… empty. His mind had been whirring with thoughts and worries ever since they got here, and it didn’t help that they had no clue as to why. He’d felt great because Sasuke had finally agreed to stay, officially, even if he hadn’t been very enthusiastic about it. To Naruto, that was the final piece of the puzzle he’d needed. And then, just a few hours later, everything had changed. At least it _felt_ like things had changed, gradually, sneaking up on him and only becoming all too obvious by the arrival of Itachi. The way Sasuke had said it that morning in his kitchen, it sounded like he was only staying because he had nowhere else to go.

And now? Naruto dug his fingers into his pant legs, frowning. He had never backed down from his resolve to bring Sasuke home with him, and why should that part change now? If they could get home at all…

“Relax, kid. After all the trouble you went through, I doubt he’d forget about you just like that. Take it from someone who’s lived through every friendship speech you ever made.”

“Easy for you to say,” he muttered, tilting his head and glaring at nothing in particular.

“You’ll be home in no time, stop moping around, it’s creepy.”

Naruto only made a disagreeing noise, narrowing his eyes. Part of him fervently wished Kurama was right, and they really would go home soon. Another other part was more skeptical, but worst of all was the part that-

A knock on his door snatched him out of his inner turmoil, and back to the outer world.

“Come in,” he called, Kushina opening the door a second later.

“Hey sweetie, I remembered we’ve got some leftovers if you want to bring on your trip tomorrow?”

“Oh, no, that’s fine. Itachi said we’ll eat when we get there.”

“Mm, okay.” Kushina then narrowed her eyes at him, stepping fully inside to close the door behind her. “I was going to say it’s exciting you’ll get to meet Akatsuki, but you don’t seem very cheerful.”

“No, that’s…” He hesitated, grimacing and running a hand through his unruly hair. “I mean, meeting them will be fun, I guess. Hopefully we can meet Obito, though.”

She sat down next to him, lips pursed in thought, her red hair framing her face nicely. Then she smiled, taking a reassuring hold of his shoulder.

“It’ll be fine, I’m sure. You don’t need to hurry back for my sake, but I understand that everyone must be worried about you.”

“Yeah…” Honestly, Naruto hadn’t put much thought into it. He was more concerned with Sasuke at the moment, and while he felt bad for skipping out on his duties, he knew that there were several competent ninjas that could cover for him. A while, at least. He didn’t like worrying people, but he’d heard many times that he tended to get stuck on his thoughts of Sasuke and forget everything else, and he supposed it was true. Even Kurama had noticed, obviously. “I feel bad for disappearing without anyone knowing where we went.”

 “Well, at least you’ve got Sasuke with you, right? I’m sure they’re not as worried knowing that.”

Naruto felt like laughing, but it would have probably come out sounding bitter. Despite his efforts, there were still many who doubted Sasuke, and he couldn’t exactly blame them. The guy had a thing for changing his mind, after all. Though, the cold greeting back into the village that Sasuke had received at least served to calm him down a little, and rethink his possibilities of becoming Hokage. Not that Naruto would mind if Sasuke became Hokage as well, but…

“It’s going to be so interesting when Menma comes back with our Sasuke,” Kushina continued. “I’m sure they’ll be surprised! Maybe now Sasuke will wake up and start acting a little more his age.”

The last part was said with an almost pout, and Naruto felt his mouth twitch in amusement at the thought. He just hoped the wake-up call wouldn’t be bloody, and that he wasn’t the one who had to clean up the mess afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so next chapter we'll meet Akatsuki! I know Naruto is acting a bit depressing, that's because he's just so worried, and well, struggling with some feelings. We'll see more of that later. I hope it won't take too long for me to update again.


	10. Sasuke's responsibility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, sorry it took a while. And sorry it's a bit of a mess, still not sure how I wanted the chapter to turn out so... I'll just let it speak for itself *cough* gay *cough*.

Itachi was intrigued. They were currently making their way towards the Akatsuki hideout, jumping the thick branches of the forest outside of Konoha. Sasuke was silent slightly behind him, and Naruto was in front talking animatedly to Kisame. He had to admit that seeing them now, he was disappointed in himself for not having noticed the difference to his brother and Menma. On the other hand it wasn’t exactly the first thought flitting through his mind that someone who in every way looked and felt like his brother would be an alternate version from a different dimension. To be fair, the only difference was in personality, and yesterday afternoon’s annoyance on this Sasuke’s face had been the exact same expression as his brother would have. On the other hand, their personalities were so far apart that it was hard to think of them as the same person. Naruto was more like Menma, in that sense.

When his brother and Menma came back, he had a feeling that if they were to stand next to each other with identical clothes and expressions, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart without his Sharingan, and even then it might prove difficult. He hadn’t put much thought into the battle with the masked man afterwards, because while he knew the truth, he was also fairly certain that it wouldn’t happen again and trying to make sense of it would be a waste of time. Perhaps he shouldn’t have dismissed it so easily. It had been a bigger issue that Menma had used the Kyuubi to the extent of creating that much damage, and investigations had been focused on that instead. It would be interesting to question Naruto later, because while they were obviously the same age as his Sasuke and Menma, the difference in battle experience was easy to tell.

These two had a history behind them, and judging by Sasuke’s reaction last night, it was not a pretty one. Putting that together with the fact that Sasuke possessed the Rinnegan, and Itachi couldn’t even begin to fathom what he must have experienced to gain his power. Because he had _power_ , and it showed in the way he held himself, in the air of determination that steered his every move. This Sasuke was someone who knew how to rely on only himself and his skills, with the exception of Naruto. Now _that_ was an interesting part of his personality. While his brother was social to a default, this Sasuke preferred to keep his mouth shut and instead let Naruto be in charge of talking. The way they moved around each other suggested they trusted each other’s skills with their lives, even. They must be teammates, he thought, even if that word wouldn’t be enough to describe the deeper part of their bond. He could see it in the way Naruto looked at Sasuke, in the way they seemed to gravitate towards each other like mere teammates wouldn’t do outside of battle.

He was sure that, whatever things Sasuke had seen, Naruto had shared. But there was so much he didn’t know about them, and especially Sasuke didn’t seem intent on sharing. Tsunade had told his parents to keep a close eye on them, because regardless of the fact that Naruto saved them last time, the reason they had needed it was him, as well. Minato might have reported that the masked man seemed to be out of the question this time, but that only made things seem more suspicious. Why were they here? And why did they feel the need to be so secretive?

Sighing to himself, Itachi recounted his mission within his head. Personally, he didn’t think that Naruto or Sasuke knew any more of their reason for ending up here than any of them, but that didn’t mean they could relax.

 _Something_ was bound to happen, sooner or later, and Itachi would rather deal with it before it got out of hand.

xxx

“This is it?” Naruto asked as they stopped in front of what looked like a really nice inn.

“Yep!” Kisame was grinning widely as he stepped up to the front door on the porch, knocking a few times on it.

“Were you expecting something else?” Itachi asked, evaluating Naruto’s slightly surprised face.

“Umm, well, when you said hideout I kinda guessed on something a little less… _obvious_.”

A glance at the frown on Sasuke’s face told him that he seemed to share Naruto’s view on it.

“Well, this is where we bring clients, not where we keep the secrets,” Kisame laughed, winking at Naruto. “Plus there’s no point in being uncomfortable, is there?”

The door made a creaking noise as it opened to reveal a clearly annoyed Hidan, who cast one look at Naruto and Sasuke and raised his eyebrows high.

“Well damn, you weren’t kidding when you said they were copies. And what the fuck is up with all the orange?”

“There’s nothing wrong with orange!” Naruto defended himself with, crossing his arms and making Itachi reevaluate his earlier assumptions on Naruto’s maturity level.

“Everything is wrong with orange,” Sasuke muttered, and Naruto sent him a scathing look.

“Whatever kids, you better get in here, Deidara’s getting bored waiting.”

Itachi put a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder, urging him inside.

“When is Deidara _not_ bored?”

 Hidan grinned, glancing at Naruto and Sasuke before throwing Itachi a meaningful look.

“You sure you wanna have that talk in front of your little bro?”

Throwing his head back, Kisame let out a cackle, bumping Hidan’s shoulder as he moved past him. Itachi could see the slight confusion on Naruto’s face, Sasuke looking as stoic as ever. Maybe letting them meet all the Akatsuki members at once was a bad idea.

When they got inside the large common room, filled with couches and armchairs and small tables, bookcases lining the walls, Itachi heaved a sigh as all inhabitants zoned in on the two youngest ninja. It seemed like everyone was present, and he noticed Naruto slowly counting the faces before pausing at Yahiko. His blue eyes widened slightly, then darted between him and Nagato, both of them lounging on a puffy couch in front of a large fireplace.

“Are you sure they’re not Menma and Sasuke and you’re just pulling our legs?” It was Sasori that had voiced the question, sitting perched on a bar stool in one corner of the room and sipping on a drink, where there was an actual bar set up.

“Drinking already?” Kisame asked, heading over to him and sitting down heavily on the stool next to him. Ignoring Sasori’s look of disgust, he grabbed the red-haired man’s glass and downed it in one go. “That’s some weak shit you’re drinking,” he commented, before shrugging and leaning over the counter to grab a bottle.

“Oi, answer the question, yeah?” Deidara called, leaning on the back of the couch where Yahiko and Nagato were sitting. His blond hair fell loose, and he was the only one not currently wearing their standard black cloak with signature red clouds, instead in dark blue lounge pants and a thin sweater.

Itachi was taking careful note of Naruto and Sasuke’s reactions as they listened to what was said. Naruto seemed to be a little overwhelmed, of what he couldn’t tell, but he had unconsciously stepped closer to Sasuke. While Sasuke appeared casual, his narrowed eyes gave away the intensity with which he gathered information about them.

“Maybe we should have a small introduction,” he suggested, and Yahiko gave a big smile and got up from his seat.

“Sounds like a good idea! Hey guys, I’m Yahiko, supposed leader of these grumpy old men.”

“Who are you calling old, yeah!” Deidara yelled, eyes flashing in anger.

“Who are you calling a man?” Konan mumbled from her place in an armchair next to a serious-looking Nagato.

“Yeah, who are you calling a man? Not Deidara I hope,” Kisame added from behind his bottle, causing Deidara to flick his hair theatrically.

“Considering the size of your dick I would shut up if I were you, yeah,” he retorted, looking rather pleased with himself as Yahiko rolled his eyes at the two newcomers.

“Please ignore them,” he said, smiling at Naruto’s red face and Sasuke’s look of distaste, his words all but drowning in the cheerfully shouted “You love my dick!” that Kisame sent Deidara’s way.

Hidan left his spot next to them to head over to another couch, joining the until now silent Kakuzu. When Yahiko pointed out each member to Naruto and Sasuke, it was surprisingly difficult to determine which of them they knew from before. Besides the obvious surprise at seeing Yahiko, Naruto’s face was a polite mask as he greeted the rest. Sasuke didn’t bother doing anything other than stare.

“Did you have dinner?” Yahiko finished by asking, humming in thought when Itachi shook his head. “Well, Itachi why don’t you bring Sasuke with you and cook something up?”

Kisame snickered at this, and Itachi really thought he needed to lay off on the laughing. Or drinking, perhaps.

“It might be a good idea,” he answered carefully, noticing how nervous Naruto looked at the prospect of being left alone with all the other Akatsuki members. “Naruto, why don’t you brief them on how you and Sasuke ended up here? I’ve got clearance from Tsunade-sama to tell them.”

Still looking dubious, Naruto nodded slowly.

“Awesome! Come join me, yeah?” Deidara called, waving Naruto over as he headed for the bar.

“Umm, I’m underage,” the younger blond stammered, and Itachi couldn’t help the corners of his lips curling upwards at that.

Ushering Sasuke towards the kitchen, Itachi felt like there was at least one difference to Naruto and Menma, and he had to admit he preferred Naruto’s response. It was like seeing a slightly more innocent version, he supposed. As far as he knew, anyway.

Entering the large kitchen, he soon put Sasuke to work, chopping up vegetables. Deciding to forgo the cloak, he folded it across a chair and instead found a plain, black apron to tie around his waist.

“I hope you don’t mind fried chicken and vegetables,” he asked Sasuke, initiating conversation.

“Don’t be surprised if Naruto only eats the chicken,” Sasuke muttered in response, a concentrated frown on his face as he neatly cut some leek.

“Oh? He doesn’t strike me as a picky eater.”

Sasuke snorted, and Itachi felt that his suspicions had just been confirmed. Talk about Naruto, and Sasuke’s defenses lowered considerably.

“You cook for him a lot, then?”

Glancing at him, Sasuke still seemed a little wary however, so Itachi smiled reassuringly over his shoulder as he stood by the stove.

“It happens.”

“He does seem like he’s a bit of a danger in the kitchen though, considering what he told me last night.”

This time, Sasuke actually looked amused.

“He’s more annoying than dangerous,” he said, putting the leek into a bowl and starting on the carrots. “And he eats more than he helps.”

“Well, he’s got a healthy appetite at least. Should I make some noodles with this, then?”

Sasuke shrugged, and Itachi took it as a yes. It wasn’t much of an effort to cook some, anyway. Rummaging through the cupboards, he calculated his options. He could keep talking about Naruto, which may or may not give him any useful information, or he could risk it and ask something more serious just to see Sasuke’s reaction. However, as he mulled possible questions over in his mind, he noticed a flare of chakra coming from the living room. A quick glance on Sasuke’s face confirmed that it was, indeed, Naruto’s.

“What is that damn moron doing,” Sasuke muttered under his breath, pausing in his chopping.

There was the faint sound of clapping hands reaching them through the thin walls a few moments later, and Itachi cocked his head in a curios gesture.

“What technique is he showing?” He could feel Naruto’s presence split in five, figuring he was using clones to show whatever it was.

“It’s not a _technique_ ,” Sasuke sneered, continuing his chopping, a little less composed now.

Itachi raised an eyebrow, but Sasuke had thinned his mouth into a line and seemed done with talking. Letting the carrots fall into the bowl as well, Sasuke stood up to retrieve the onion from the counter. Just as he reached for it, his eyes widened for a moment before his head snapped towards the direction of the living room. Two seconds later he was striding out of the kitchen, Itachi blinking at his back for a second before hurrying after him.

xxx

No, Naruto had _not_ appreciated being left alone with Akatsuki. Sure, it was cool that they were good guys here, but Deidara throwing an arm around his shoulders and offering him a drink he promised was alcohol free wasn’t really making him comfortable. Not that he showed it, though.

“So, Naruto, why don’t you tell us how you ended up here?”

It was Yahiko speaking, looking casual as if it wasn’t strange to have a guest that mysteriously appeared from a different dimension.

“I’d tell you if I knew,” he said, taking a small sip and finding the drink to be very tasty. “We were just practicing teleporting and somehow ended up here.”

“You must have skipped quite a few years ahead if you’re already at that level,” Sasori quietly commented, sitting on Deidara’s other side.

“Naruto told me he’s still a chuunin,” Kisame offered, and Naruto could feel his cheeks heat up angrily.

So what if he was still a chuunin! He could beat everyone’s asses in here anywa- Taking a calming breath, he figured Sasuke wouldn’t be too happy if he just blurted that out.

“I’m a bit of a special case,” he mumbled, slouching a little and taking a few gulps, hoping they weren’t going to keep questioning him. He couldn’t believe Sasuke left him alone like this!

Hidan laughed from his spot on the other side of the room, flipping through a magazine but lowering it to eye Naruto’s clothes again.

“Yeah, he’s gotta be special if he gets away with wearing an orange jumpsuit,” he snorted, looking at Kakuzu for support but frowning when he only received a disinterested look.

“I think it looks cute,” Konan chimed in, and Naruto wasn’t sure anymore if he was blushing in anger or embarrassment.

He did feel slightly warm, though, and downed some more of the drink to cool off.

“I just picked it so people would notice me,” he said, blinking in surprise at the admittance.

The others looked startled as well for a moment, but then Kisame threw his head back to let out a roar of laughter.

“Oh man, at least it works,” he wheezed out, and Naruto was about to retort when Deidara patted his shoulder sympathetically.

“Don’t mind them, they’ve all got a warped sense of fashion anyway,” he said, flicking his hair back again and boring his eyes into Kisame’s. “ _Especially_ when it comes to underwear.”

Naruto was trying to sink into the cushioned stool, darting his eyes between the blond that held him in a secure grip and the larger, shark-like man. Yes, he’d heard a lot of strange things while travelling with Jiraiya, but listening to Akatsuki debating taste in clothes was not something he ever thought he’d experience.

“We’re getting off topic here,” Yahiko told them, easing the sudden tension in the room. “Do you have any enemies at home? Anyone like the masked man, that could have an objective for sending you here?”

Naruto slowly shook his head, not liking how everyone, especially Nagato, stared at him with evaluating looks.

“No, the villages are on friendly terms, and no one would be stupid enough to attack us now.”

“But doesn’t it make sense then, to do it like this?” Sasori asked, and Naruto had to admit it was strange to see him like this and not inside that big puppet of his. He could see the resemblance to Gaara, somehow…

“But that would mean that either, the enemy knows how to enter this dimension, or the enemy is from here and somehow managed to get them here as well.” It was Konan that had raised her voice. “There could be a version of the masked man here, too. I’m just not sure what he’d get out of these versions of Menma and Sasuke, though.”

“Umm, I doubt that because the masked man was Obito,” Naruto blurted out, again wondering why the words had left him unasked for. “I already told Minato, so…”

Everyone looked surprised at this, and Yahiko scratched the back of his neck in thought.

“Well, I doubt it’s Obito… It wouldn’t make sense anyway.”

“Yeah yeah, what does it matter?” Kisame asked, drinking from a bottle now. “We’ll figure it out later. I’m more curious to know if he’s a virgin.”

“What the fuck?!” Naruto had all but yelled, standing up to give Kisame a horrified look. “Why would you want to know that?!”

“Kisame, just _once_ , could try not to seduce our guests?” Yahiko complained, running a frustrated hand through his spiky, orange hair. “Naruto is way too young for you anyway.”

“Plus, Sasuke probably has dibs on his ass anyway, yeah!” Deidara added, giving Kisame the finger when he glared at him.

“I’m not gay!” Naruto piped up, frozen in Deidara’s hold, wild-eyed and trying hard not to freak out.

“Naruto, no one in here is particularly straight, so you don’t need to feel forced into pretending,” Konan gently told him, which was the opposite of helpful.

Naruto was _not_ questioning his sexuality, no matter what Sai said! He and Sasuke were best friends, and that was it. Yeah, nothing else, because anything else would be…

A thought struck him, and he clung to it like a lifeline. He hadn’t gotten much chance to try out his reverse harem technique since the war, because no one wanted to practice it with him, not even Konohamaru. Or rather, he didn’t really want to try it on the girls, because it would feel weird. But if these guys were gay, he’d know if it had improved, right? Because then he wouldn’t need to think about Sasuke, and maybe they’d stop asking him weird questions and he could teach them how to do it instead.

“Umm, want me to show you one of my coolest techniques?” he forced out, grinning wide. “You’re gonna like it, definitely!”

If there was one thing Naruto was good at, it was to take advantage of people’s perverted side. It had always proven helpful when he needed to distract them, and for some reason, he seemed to be talking against his free will, and Sasuke was going to beat him up anyway so he might as well get all these people into a bloody mess on the floor and sneak off to the kitchen to get it over with.

“A technique? Like, taking off your shirt?”

Naruto ignored Kisame’s comment, and instead walked into the middle of the room. He probably shouldn’t overdo it, and there wasn’t much space anyway, so he figured that four clones would be enough. Clearing his throat, he hesitated for a second, hoping it would work so he didn’t have to simply run off.

“I call it the Reverse Harem technique,” he announced, gritting his teeth so he wouldn’t blush when several of the room’s occupants snickered at the name. “Why don’t you come up here, Kisame, I’ll show you it can defeat you in a second!”

It was a stupid challenge, and he briefly wondered what the hell was wrong with him, but Kisame grinned and joined him.

“Alright,” the blue-haired man said, “Give me your best shot, straight boy.”

Naruto scowled at him, lifting his hands in the familiar hand sign.

“You’re lucky I’m not gonna use force to defeat you with!” he snapped back, and quickly put the technique into effect.

The result was… not what he expected. Sure, Kisame didn’t look like he wasn’t enjoying having five naked guys clinging to him, private parts covered in smoke, but he sure wasn’t fainting from a nosebleed.

“Pffft, you’ve got guts! But you guessed my type completely wrong!”

Naruto pouted, both he and his clones crossing their arms with frowns on their faces.

“Oh my,” he heard Konan murmur, and too late he realized that the smoke had disappeared.

“Whatever! As if I want to know your type anyway! I just wanted to distract you!”

Everyone was chuckling or looking amused, but Naruto stubbornly kept the technique in place, not caring one bit that he and his clones were naked. He wasn’t displaying his own body anyway.

“It’s going to take something a lot more depraved than a few pretty boys standing around naked,” Kakuzu said, and Naruto suddenly felt like this was an extremely bad idea.

“Well, you get points for effort, yeah? I’m not complaining,” Deidara snorted, starting to clap his hands, the others cheerfully joining him.

Making strangled noises, Naruto changed back. He was starting to believe Sasuke in doubting his skills at diplomatic meetings…

“What a… _straight_ technique,” Hidan drawled, waggling his eyebrows at him.

Naruto was mortified. Here he was, in the middle of a room filled with Akatsuki, people he had _killed_ , and they were all grinning suggestively at him! He could feel anger bubbling up within him, his entire body feeling so hot now, and he almost tripped on his own feet as he took a step towards the doorway.

“Ah,” Sasori said,”I think the poison is wearing off.”

“The what?”

Naruto squinted at Sasuke, instantly relieved that he was there. He took a few more stumbling steps, giving in to numbness when Sasuke caught him underneath his armpits. Sasuke’s chakra surrounded him, crackling sharply, and he hoped it wasn’t because he’d found Naruto goofing off.

“Relax, he’ll be fine, he’ll just sleep for a couple of hours.”

The voices around him sounded distorted, subdued, and he fought against heavy eyelids to see clearly.

“Yeah, ‘m fine…” he mumbled, Sasuke’s face slowly coming into focus as he bent his head upwards at an awkward angle, because he was staring into his eyes for some reason. “Too close,” he added, pushing at his chest weakly, wondering if he was going to burn up because Sasuke was just too _warm_.

Sasuke was talking again, but Naruto couldn’t have understood the words if his life depended on it. Sleep was tugging at the edges of his consciousness, and he thought, well, he’d always wanted to fall asleep in Sasuke’s arms anyway…

xxx

Sasuke was trying to decide who he should kill first. Maybe Sasori for apparently having poisoned the dobe, maybe Itachi for seeming perfectly fine with it, maybe himself for letting Naruto out of his sight.

“Sasuke, relax,” Itachi told him, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it.

He didn’t react. He was pinning Sasori down with his glare, holding Naruto’s now limp body, thinking it was typical idiot behavior to be happily snoring in the midst of the enemy.

“Sorry about that, Sasuke,” Yahiko said, “We were under orders from the Hokage to question you. We weren’t expecting Naruto to react so heavily to the aftereffects.”

“If the Hokage wanted to ask questions, she could have done so herself,” Sasuke answered, voice toneless and cold.

“It’s a completely harmless substance, the worst he’ll get is a fever,” Sasori explained, seemingly unperturbed by his anger.

“I don’t need to hear that from a puppet,” he snapped back, hoisting Naruto up into a little more comfortable grip, basically hugging him to his chest.

“So, you do know us from your world?” Kisame asked, raising an eyebrow and leaning against the back of the couch where Yahiko and Nagato sat.

“I know enough to kill you in ten seconds each. Don’t try something like this again,” he threatened.

Itachi’s hand was still on his shoulder, and while he understood why they would try to question them like this, it didn’t mean he approved of it. Just another stupid ninja tactic. Interrogate when the subject isn’t expecting it…

“Tch, I doubt you know all our weak points,” Hidan baited him, and Sasuke turned to give him a frigid look. “I don’t even have a weak point!”

“Don’t make him try and prove you wrong, you idiot,” Konan berated him, but Sasuke was done talking by this point.

“I doubt you got anything useful out of him anyway, he’s smarter than that,” he said, changing his grip so that he instead carried Naruto.

“I’ll show you where he can sleep it off,” Itachi said quietly, turning to walk out of the room again.

Sasuke followed him, glancing at Naruto drooling slightly. The stupid moron better not have said anything that put him in danger…

Upstairs, Itachi showed him one of the guest rooms, where a bed was prepared.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to share,” he said, but Sasuke didn’t comment.

He simply dumped Naruto on the mattress after having pushed away the covers, and sent a backwards glance that told Itachi to get lost.

“You’ve got every right to be angry,” his alternate dimension brother told him, and Sasuke ignored him again in favor of unzipping Naruto’s hoodie so he could pull it off. “But you’re a ninja, too. You would do the same if two strangers appeared like this.”

“No,” Sasuke disagreed. “I’d lock them up until I knew for sure they weren’t a threat. Konoha is too trusting, but I won’t complain about that. Next time though, think twice before you incapacitate Naruto and leave me able to make you regret it.”

“You weren’t supposed to have noticed, and he wasn’t supposed to be affected like this,” Itachi pointed out, and Sasuke dropped Naruto’s sweater on the floor before covering his sleeping form.

“He’s got a high fever.”

“Usually the drug wears off after about twenty minutes and the only aftereffect is a slight dizziness.”

“His chakra was all over the place.”

Itachi looked surprised, as if he hadn’t noticed. He probably hadn’t, Sasuke realized, forgetting about how closely he and Naruto could feel each other’s presence and any changes in chakra signature. He’d gotten so used to it by now that he didn’t stop to think about it anymore.

“So that’s why you noticed? You two must be very close.”

“I’m not going to talk to you about anything personal. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering.”

Smiling weakly, Itachi sighed.

“I’ll bring some dinner up for you. There’s a bathroom across the hall if you want to take a shower, towels are in the cupboards over there.”

Sasuke stared at him, waiting for him to get the hint and leave. He’d like to be angry at himself in private. The fact that everyone here seemed so laid-back had evidently made him careless, and in his torn feelings over spending time with Itachi he had forgotten that Naruto was even more careless most of the time. When Itachi finally left, he stared at the closed door for a few seconds, turning back to Naruto when he made a noise in his sleep and rolled over onto his side. As long as they were here, it was Sasuke’s responsibility to keep him alive.

Naruto was, after all, the one person he couldn’t kill, and so he needed to make sure no one else did it either.

 


	11. Night talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly a chapter for build-up... but I hope you like it! Special thanks to Debbie for quickly checking it through since I'm still a little unsure of the contents... Oh well at least Sasuke is cute when he aggressively cares for Naruto.

“So, we messed up a little, huh?”

Itachi had just returned from Sasuke and Naruto, and now shrugged at Yahiko’s grimace.

“I’m fairly sure Sasuke didn’t trust us to begin with. I’ll make them some dinner and we’ll see tomorrow. But I still think they don’t know why they’re here.”

“Obviously they don’t,” Sasori said, tapping a finger against the bar counter. “I doubt Naruto is good enough of an actor anyway. Maybe we should have waited it out.”

“They’re meeting with Obito tomorrow, it’s not as if it’s possible to simply wait. For all we know, they’ll be back in their own dimension this time tomorrow.”

Itachi gave Konan a contemplative look. While he, of course, hoped for the best, he had his doubts that things would be that simple. Especially since the both of them seemed to be from a dimension that was a lot more complicated than this one. Most likely their appearance here meant something big was going on, because something in Itachi’s gut told him so, and he usually trusted that feeling.

“I will bet my next paycheck on them staying,” Kakuzu surprisingly said, slouching on the couch and removing the grey fabric and forehead protector that covered his head and most of his face. “They’ve got no clue, but someone or something wants them here. You don’t move through dimensions by mistake.”

“Oh? And when the fuck did you become such an expert on dimensions?” Hidan mocked, sprawled out next to him.

“You are all missing the point here.”

Everyone turned to Nagato, who looked serious as always. Itachi smiled at him and sat down on the table in front of Hidan and Kakuzu, figuring they’d be talking for a while. Nagato was very good at reading other people, often seeing things that the rest of them missed. He even managed to surprise Itachi now and then.

“They’re both very strong. Sasori’s poison works better the less chakra a person has to fight it, and Naruto seemed both to be aware of himself acting strange and reacting heavily to it. Sasuke has the aura of someone who has seen death and defeated it. Then there is the fact that Sasuke’s chakra was spiking like that when he held Naruto, which means Naruto should have felt uncomfortable considering its intensity, but instead he looked calmer and reassured.”

“So you agree that they’re doing each other?”

Yahiko sent a glare towards Kisame for interrupting.

“Sasuke mentioned he could kill each of us in ten seconds, and I don’t think he was bluffing,” Nagato continued. “We were underestimating them. Itachi, you should have said something when you arrived.”

Itachi sighed, playing with a few loose strands that hung around his face.

“Sasuke could sense that Naruto’s chakra was acting up, without even making a visible effort to check. Yes, we did underestimate them, but they took great care seeming to be of regular level, if you count out the teleportation techniques. Neither the Hokage nor my parents or Menma’s have mentioned anything strange about them. Sasuke hinted at a tragic past, but I didn’t get much out of him now either. I suppose I let my guard down, forgetting what it means that Sasuke has the Rinnegan.”

“Well, you know your mission, Itachi. Keep an eye on them,” Yahiko told him with finality.

“Hey, are we just going to ignore the biggest issue here?”

Turning to Kisame with a raised eyebrow, Itachi was sure that whatever was about to come out of the large man’s mouth, it was somehow going to be connected to whatever transpired before he and Sasuke arrived on the scene. He was very curious to find out what happened.

“There’s nothing else to discuss,” Yahiko said, sounding tired now. “We’ll need to proceed carefully, so I suggest you keep whatever bothers you to yourself.”

“Did you all forget why we started this organization in the first place?” Kisame sounded accusing, and Itachi tried to hold back a small smile. “Naruto is obviously in the closet. You saw the technique he pulled, right? If that kid is straight, then I’m not into bondage.”

“Kisame, Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship isn’t something we can meddle in,” Itachi said, knowing all too well that if Kisame was given free rein, then Naruto was going to get a rather intense lesson on the wonders of embracing his possible love for male anatomy. 

“Oh come on, you saw the look on his face when he said he wasn’t gay, yeah? The kid’s clearly been taught it’s wrong.”

“See? When did we become such a money-grabbing bunch, huh?”

“Deidara, don’t give him ideas. Kisame, I know one of our objectives is to spread awareness and acceptance among ninjas, but this isn’t a regular kind of mission.”

Kisame glared at Yahiko, and for a few seconds, it seemed as if the orange-haired man might lose.

“Don’t make light of money,” Kakuzu broke the silence with, and Hidan threw his head back to laugh.

“Okay, so what? Blondie wants to get into mini-Uchiha’s pants, big fucking deal.”

“It could be a big deal. They’re both very powerful, and they are obviously important to each other. What if Sasuke is lead to believe that Naruto has been killed by the hands of one of the villages? Whether they are in an actual relationship or not, we can’t dismiss that factor. Naruto has the Kyuubi, and we know how much destruction it caused when Menma was controlled to set it loose. Naruto might even have all of its chakra, for all we know.”

Everyone fell silent, contemplating Nagato’s words. Itachi wasn’t sure what to think. Yes, Naruto had the Kyuubi, and Sasuke seemed powerful enough, but to be able to single-handedly take down an entire village?

“This is why it’s important that we focus on the possible danger, and not Naruto being in the closet,” Yahiko eventually said, ignoring Kisame’s annoyance.

“But maybe if we help them, they’ll think twice before attacking us, don’t you think?” Konan asked, calmly adjusting the paper flower adorning her dark blue hair. “Itachi should try to get close to them, either way.”

There was a mumbled agreement, and Itachi stood up.

“Well, I’ll start by finishing their dinner,” he announced, and headed for the kitchen once again.

He could sense Konan following him, but didn’t bother to acknowledge her presence. Instead he got to work, re-heating the forgotten water for the noodles and contemplating the chicken he’d left half cut up.

“It’s quite interesting how different he is from your brother.”

Itachi shrugged, glancing over at Konan where she sat by the table.

“I’m not sure I want to know what happened to him. I’m worried enough that my little brother will end up hurt during a mission.”

“Mm,” Konan hummed, silent for a few minutes as he went about cooking. “What do you think of what Kisame said? You missed it, but Naruto did something he called the Reverse Harem technique, which was basically a few very pretty boys trying to seduce Kisame. It was rather… _interesting_ to watch.”

At that, Itachi turned around to give her a look of disbelief.

“Really? That must have been why Sasuke looked so disapproving, then. I don’t really want to speculate over what their relationship is, though. But I get the feeling it’s more than simple attraction.”

“Well, obviously it’s more than that. I know I only saw them together for a few minutes, but woman’s intuition, Itachi. Those two are very important to each other. Kind of like you and-“

“Yes, I see your point. I wasn’t disagreeing with that.”

If Konan was giving him a knowing look, he promptly ignored it.

“How lucky that you were meeting with Obito tomorrow regardless. Of course, it could have been better to get some more info on them, but now we’ll know faster if they can go home.”

“Hn.”

Itachi was _not_ having this conversation again. Forcing his shoulders to relax, he ignored Konan as she continued to bait him.

“I mean, it’s not like you don’t see him a lot. Must be nice for your family that you’re so close with him. He’s got quite a reputation. Are you sure you aren’t going to accept his offer to train for him?”

“You know he can only have one person working for him at the same time,” he mumbled, letting the vegetables fall into the frying pan to join the chicken. “I’m quite fine working with Akatsuki.”

“Oh? But I heard rumors he wouldn’t mind two, considering it was you and Shisui.”

Sighing through his nose, Itachi frowned and kept stirring.

“Then again, there are rumors that the two of you aren’t on the best of terms…”

“What do you want, Konan?” he gritted out, not appreciating her words one bit.

“I just want to know what’s going on. You were so happy until a year ago, bringing him over all the time, and now you refuse to even talk about it. We’re worried about you.”

“Find someone else to worry about.”

“Itachi…”

An awkward silence settled between them, Deidara choosing that moment to walk in.

“Well you guys are looking cheerful, yeah.”

“This stubborn boy refuses to talk about Shisui.”

“Tch, good luck with that, yeah.”

Deidara tugged at Itachi’s ponytail, and he sent an irritated look over his shoulder.

“Lend me some of your shower gel, yeah? I’m all out and I didn’t have time to go shopping.”

“Can’t you borrow someone else’s?”

“But yours smell the best! Not like some stupid macho man, yeah?”

Rolling his eyes, Itachi relented. One of these days he’d buy Deidara a huge enough stash that he wouldn’t come begging to use Itachi’s all the time.

“Don’t let Kisame hear you say that,” Konan snickered, but Deidara only held out one of his hands with an outstretched tongue as he strutted past her.

“I’ll be taking up Sasuke’s dinner now,” Itachi said, hoping Konan would get the hint and leave him be.

She did, but not without a concerned look sent his way. Itachi didn’t care. It wasn’t her business, anyway.

xxx

When Naruto woke up, it was dark around him. After a brief flash of panic, he could feel Sasuke’s presence sleeping next to him. Wow, he really felt disoriented… Patting the mattress beside him until he found Sasuke’s arm, he heaved a relieved sigh at the warmth that seeped into his palm.

“You’re awake?”

 “Shit!” Naruto had almost fallen off the bed, startled by Sasuke’s question. “Don’t scare me like that!”

“Dumbass.”

Scowling at what he could discern of Sasuke’s face in the darkness, Naruto crossed his arms with a huff.

“What’s going on anyway?”

“We were sleeping.”

Naruto threw a pillow at the bastard.

“I know that! I meant before!”

“Well,” Sasuke started, sounding very much annoyed. “You were drugged in order for them to gain information on us, then you passed out with a fever and I dragged you to bed.”

“Uh, okay.”

The way Sasuke said it, it sounded like Naruto should be thankful he’d made the effort. The way Sasuke’s body had tensed, however, suggested something else entirely.

“Well I’m feeling perfectly fine now, so…” Stomach making gurgling noises, Naruto rubbed it with a sheepish smile. “Besides starving, I mean.”

“I’ll go get you some food.”

It took Naruto a second of gaping shock before the words really registered in his mind.

“What the hell?! I can get it myself! Don’t treat me like some weak-ass sick person!”

Sasuke had stopped by the door, and flicked on the lights to give Naruto a good view on the patronizing look on his face.

“Bastard,” Naruto growled, throwing off the covers and stalking over to join him.

“You were drugged, it’s not the best idea to move around,” Sasuke pointed out, and Naruto would have been happy for the concern if it weren’t for the fact that he felt he needed to prove that he wasn’t useless because of some sneaky people drugging him.

“Oh yeah? And you really think they’d be stupid enough to do it again?”

“Why are you being so difficult.”

Naruto poked Sasuke in the chest, not entirely sure why he was, but not about to admit it.

“I’m gonna get food now, don’t follow me.”

Ignoring Sasuke’s frown, he opened the door and quickly stepped out into the dark corridor outside. As he closed it in Sasuke’s face, he thought that maybe it wasn’t such a smart idea to try and find his way through an unknown house in the middle of the night. When Sasuke pushed the door open again, he crossed his arms and stubbornly stared at the opposite wall.

“God, you’re a moron,” Sasuke mumbled, making his way towards the stairs, Naruto reluctantly following.

On the way, Naruto had time to figure out what had happened before he passed out. Needless to say, he wasn’t proud of what he’d done. Luckily he hadn’t said anything that Minato didn’t already know, and well, admitting he wore orange for attention might not be fun for his sense of pride, but at least it wasn’t something Sasuke could berate him for. But really, what was up with all those personal questions! He really, really wasn’t gay with Sasuke…

“There should be something in the fridge,” Sasuke quietly reasoned to himself, opening it as they had entered the kitchen and turned on the bright lamp hanging above the table. “Looks like Itachi left some for you.”

Naruto accepted the bowl covered with some foil, mind still stuck on what had happened previously. Maybe it was just that Akatsuki in this world was made up of gay people? And they were trying to make him join? Either that or Kisame just liked to make fun of him, which wasn’t impossible.

“Oi, are you just going to stand there?”

Snapping back to reality, Naruto flushed angrily. Holding the bowl tighter, he went over to the stove and rummaged around the drawers next to it to find a pot he could heat the food up with.

“To the right,” a low voice told him, and managed to surprise him enough that he slammed a drawer shut on his finger.

“Owww,” he whined, waving the finger around before sucking on it.

Sasuke ignored the new presence, opening a cupboard to the right and pulling out a small pot. Grabbing the bowl from where it now rested between Naruto’s side and arm, he emptied it into the pot and turned on the stove.

“Thanks,” Naruto said warily, eyeing Nagato as he stood in the doorway, wearing only a pair of sweatpants that rode low over his hips, dark red hair falling over his shoulders.

“No problem. Just let me know if there’s anything you need.”

Sasuke was still ignoring Nagato, having found a spoon and using it to detangle some of the noodles in the pot instead. To Naruto, it was so weird to look at Nagato like this. He looked healthy, not at all plagued and sick like Naruto remembered him. Well, maybe he’d looked a bit better during their fight in the war, but still. It was really nice.

As he sat down, Nagato joined him much to Sasuke’s annoyance. Naruto could clearly sense the distrust emanating from his friend, but this was usual Sasuke behavior so he didn’t feel like it was that bad. Not that the situation wasn’t awkward, and he clasped his hands underneath the table to keep them from tapping against his thighs.

“And I’m sorry about earlier. We probably went about it the wrong way.”

“Ah, no, it’s fine,” Naruto said, flashing Nagato a smile.

“It’s not fine,” Sasuke disagreed, still with his back turned to them as he stirred the food.

“It’s _fine_ ,” Naruto stressed, making an apologetic grimace towards the older man. “No harm done, right?”

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Sasuke’s shoulders clench slightly, and he wished he could go over there to reassure him somehow. Sure, they were stuck in this not exactly ideal situation, but no one was trying to kill them, and it wasn’t exactly strange that they thought they needed to take more drastic measures considering Sasuke’s generally closed off and mysterious attitude.

“Well, I hope so,” Nagato said, leaning back in his chair to sit more relaxed. “I feel that we misjudged you considering your age.”

Naruto raised his eyebrows, wondering what he meant. Sasuke didn’t react though, so he felt like it might be okay to keep talking a bit.

“Our age? But we’re eighteen already.”

“Yes, well, by our standards you’re still fresh out of the academy. And Itachi told us you were still chuunin level, so I’m starting to think that either our systems of ninja levels are different, or you’re special cases.”

Sasuke had turned around by the middle of what Nagato told them, his dark eyes narrowed in contemplation.

“Do enlighten us on the educational system here,” he said, and Naruto thought of discussions they’d had the past year.

The graduation and general teaching system for ninja was only one of many things Sasuke wasn’t happy with.

“Alright then,” Nagato said easily, turning his attention to Sasuke instead of Naruto. “You start around the age of five, but the real training doesn’t start until you’re around eight or so. Then by twelve, if you pass a certain basic level, you get assigned a jounin instructor in teams of three. Until the age of fifteen, you split your time between physical training with the jounin instructor, and special classes at the academy. The teacher and classes are all assigned depending on chakra affinity, fighting style, and what area you want to specialize in. For example, the medical field, intel, decoding, Anbu and so on. It’s possible to take a little of each too, before you decide if you’re not sure. You also complete D-rank missions together with your team. Then you take the chuunin exam, and if you pass, you’ll be doing missions for about three years. Either with your team or with others, sometimes alone.”

By this point, Sasuke looked so engrossed in the explanation that Naruto felt he had to get up and remove the pot from the stove, considering the smoke starting to rise from it.

“These missions are mostly related to your area of choice, but also in order for everyone to get a basic proficiency in completing missions for the village’s sake. At eighteen, or earlier if you show you’ve got the talent and maturity needed, you’ll start specializing. Not everyone does it right at eighteen, but it’s the general age. So that’s why we didn’t really count on you as experienced yet.”

“And what mission levels do you complete before then?”

Naruto found a pair of chopsticks, choosing to eat directly from the pot as Sasuke and Nagato talked. This might have been the best thing that had happened since they arrived. While they had much to change and improve at home, it was more difficult than he had expected, and they’d mostly been focused on rebuilding the villages anyway.

“Below A-rank. If a B-rank mission is deemed as possibly dangerous, the jounin instructor must go with the team.”

“So basically you wouldn’t let anyone below the age of eighteen experience any life and death battles?”

“Of course not! What’s the point in sending inexperienced, young ninja to a possible death when there are those with the skills and maturity to know what they’re getting themselves into? You need a certain level of maturity to be able to make the right decisions. Though, there are exceptions, of course.”

“Umm, question?” Naruto interrupted, chewing on his chicken and noodles and carefully avoiding the vegetables. “How do you know so much about Konoha, aren’t you from Ame?”

Nagato gave him a surprised look, but nodded all the same.

“It’s because most of the ninja villages use the same system. It’s something Uchiha Madara, one of the founders of Konoha, came up with. To ensure that the younger generation isn’t lost.”

Glancing at Sasuke, Naruto could see the conflicting emotions dance across his face. Personally, the whole thing felt a bit surreal to him. It had always seemed normal that they would fight from such a young age, even though he was kinda sure the whole fight against Zabuza wouldn’t have been allowed per se. Then hearing things about Itachi being Anbu as a mere child, and Naruto had thought they were old when they finally got somewhere in skill. In fact, ever since he graduated the academy, it had been natural for him that they would be put against strong enemies, would have to rely on themselves and the team to make it. If he tried to think about it from the perspective that Nagato now painted for him, then it must seem like a strange way of dealing with things.

Then again, for team seven, things had always been a bit extreme. To still have classes at this age… Naruto couldn’t imagine it. A life without conflict, where you could calmly find something that interested you and work for it… Would it have made him weaker or stronger?

“I…take it you don’t have the same system?” Brushing some of his red hair from his face, Nagato’s perceptive eyes flickered between them. “Is it very different?”

Pausing in shoving food down his throat, Naruto waited for Sasuke to speak. He didn’t know how much they could reveal without, well, without having to deal with the whole Sasuke-defecting-from-the-village thing and the wars.

“I would say that age doesn’t matter so much as fighting skills,” Sasuke eventually answered, voice low but gaze steady. “And neither does maturity.”

Something hurt within Naruto’s chest, as it always did whenever he could tell that Sasuke was thinking of the past and how different things could have been. All three of them were silent for a minute, Naruto forgetting about his food. He wondered how much Nagato could guess about their past just from that, if he could see the pain they would always carry with them.

“Eat, stupid,” Sasuke broke the silence with, causing Naruto’s eyes to snap up from staring down at the tabletop. “I’m not heating it up again just because you forgot about it.”

Letting a tiny smile grace his lips, Naruto rolled his eyes and grabbed a piece of chicken with the chopsticks.

“Yeah yeah,” he muttered, chewing noisily just to annoy him, pleased when Sasuke gave him a dirty look.

“Well,” Nagato said, making a move to stand up. “I only wanted to apologize, so I think I’ll go back to bed. We can always talk more in the morning, or Itachi can tell you whatever you want to know.”

Naruto nodded, munching dutifully as Sasuke crossed his arms and silently waited for Nagato to leave.

“So,” Naruto said once they were alone again.

“What?”

“That was a pretty good way of doing things, don’t you think?”

Sasuke shrugged, looking at him pointedly until he sighed and continued eating. One of these days Sasuke needed to learn how to communicate better verbally.


	12. Complications

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm sorry it took me a million years to update. Well, you know, chapter 700 yada yada.  
> This chapter could also be called "Sasuke says he's fine a few too many times".  
> That said, this chapter is such a mess and I'm just happy I got it out. Drama ahead. Heh. Also, ShiIta is a lot better than listening to Naruto and Sasuke explaining what's going on for the umpteenth time, right?

It was the second time in as many days that they were on the move, but this time around Itachi felt a lot more troubled. Their plan to question Naruto had certainly backfired, not that Itachi had approved of it in the first place. On the other hand, if Obito managed to send them on their merry way today it wouldn’t matter. Not that he thought it very likely. While Itachi might not believe that everything in life happened for a reason, this was far too strange to be a mere accident, considering they didn’t know themselves how they reached this dimension.

Well, didn’t know or didn’t tell, but Itachi leaned toward the first option.

Naruto seemed to have recovered just fine though, chatting once again with Kisame. Today they were a little louder in their discussion however, since Kisame kept trying to describe the finer points of man on man sex while Naruto tried to prove him wrong by describing all the supposed research he’d been doing with his version of Jiraiya. To Itachi, he didn’t sound incredibly convinced by his own words.

As for Sasuke, he travelled slightly behind them, intent on ignoring everyone. Itachi would have preferred to talk, because it would at least take his mind off things, something Kisame’s ramblings did the opposite of.

Thankfully it was a very short trip to the meeting spot, though Itachi landed underneath a large tree with mixed emotions. Obito and Shisui hadn’t arrived yet which wasn’t strange considering he had hurried there, not allowing Naruto and Sasuke to linger with the few Akatsuki members awake for breakfast. Sasuke had seemed particularly annoyed by Deidara, while Naruto had mostly eyed Kakuzu with slight wariness. Perhaps there was a history there.

“Itachi, can you tell him to stop? I’m _not_ interested!”

“Oh come on, kiddo, I know you don’t have any interest in _me_.”

Naruto was giving Kisame angry glares, trying to inch away from him as they stood waiting, but the blue man only followed him around. Sharing a look with Sasuke –which was rather surprising but welcome– Itachi allowed the corners of his lips to curl upwards before grabbing the back of Kisame’s cloak as he passed.

“No traumatizing kids, Kisame,” he scolded, giving the red-faced blond a look of pity. “You should have just punched him, Naruto.”

Making an indignant face, Naruto sat down cross-legged next to Sasuke, tensing up and glaring again when Kisame waggled his eyebrows at him.

“Damned perverts everywhere,” he heard Naruto mutter under his breath, and tugged at Kisame’s back when he opened his mouth to retort.

“But Itachi, he’s so easy to tease,” Kisame whined, receiving a dirty look from none other than Sasuke.

Luckily, especially for Kisame considering Sasuke seemed rather short-tempered this morning, he could sense the approaching chakra signatures of Obito and Shisui.

“Behave,” he mumbled to his work partner, the large man settling for a displeased snort as he pulled Samehada off his back and dropped it to the ground where it immediately started wriggling impatiently.

“Who’s Shisui, by the way?” Naruto asked Sasuke, still cross-legged and pointedly ignoring Kisame as well as Itachi.

“…cousin,” Sasuke muttered, which made Naruto’s mouth snap shut, an uncomfortable look on his face as he sent Itachi a furtive glance.

Observing the orange-clad ninja, Itachi took note of how he held his knees and waggled his feet slowly, his eyes turned towards the ground so as to hide the expression in them. He was starting to wonder if he wasn’t the only one dead in their dimension.

A few minutes of awkward waiting later, during which he’d chatted a little with a bored Kisame, the two ninja they were meeting with dropped from the trees and stood in front of them.

“Itachi,” Obito acknowledged calmly, sweeping his eyes over the rest, and Itachi thought he needed to explain why he’d brought them before he came to his own conclusions.

He did _not_ need chaperones to see Shisui.

His cousin had, of course, landed with too little space between them, making it obvious that Itachi was avoiding looking at him.

“Long time no see,” Shisui greeted him with, and had the nerve to grin a little.

Itachi sent him a glare, but it quickly faded when he read the look given to him. This was entirely the wrong place to talk. Or do other things.

“I brought those two because we have a special mission directly requested by the Hokage,” Itachi chose to say, directing his words towards Obito but nodding slightly at Naruto and Sasuke. “But I think they can explain themselves.”

Too late he realized that basically, he’d just told Obito to take care of the other three while he and Shisui could go and… talk. Which wasn’t the plan.

The oldest of the Uchiha raised an eyebrow, glancing back at Naruto and Sasuke.

“Great,” Shisui said, clapping his hands together with a smile. “Then I’ll just quickly borrow Itachi here.”

Obito sighed but focused on Kisame instead, doing nothing to prevent Shisui from half dragging, half pushing Itachi until they were just barely out of sight.

“This isn’t a good time to talk,” he hissed, sending Shisui an irritated look for shoving him against a tree trunk.

“Oh yeah?” Shisui crossed his arms, standing a few steps away from him but effectively trapping him against the tree. “You’ve been saying that for the past year now.”

He averted his eyes, mimicking Shisui’s crossed arms and biting his lips. Maybe his supposed lover could get it into his head that the past year _had_ been a bad time.

“I don’t get you,” Shisui said, heaving a frustrated sigh, his earlier cheerful mask disappearing completely.

“You don’t have to.”

“Uh, yeah, as your partner I think I do.”

Ah, there was that lovely twist in his stomach again. At this point, Itachi wasn’t even sure if he was only stubborn about the whole thing, or still upset. When Shisui stepped closer, his familiar scent wafting over to invade Itachi’s nostrils, he still had no idea if he wanted to throw a kunai at him or fall into his embrace.

 “You know I love you, Itachi,” Shisui murmured, close enough now for their noses to bump, one hand coming up to trace affectionate fingers along his jawline.

Closing his eyes he took a deep breath, anticipating the chaste kiss that brushed his lips. Shisui’s fingers ran up along his cheek to comb through his hair, most likely messing up the loose ponytail even more. He had missed this, badly.

Just as Shisui’s tongue teasingly ran along his lower lip, eliciting a small groan from him, a sudden flare of powerful chakra startled them. Not a second later they heard Naruto shout Sasuke’s name in what was definitely not a good way, and both of them rushed back to the clearing.

Naruto was supporting a bent over Sasuke who appeared to be in pain judging by the contorted expression on his face, Obito placing a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder in concern.

“What happened?” Obito asked as Itachi sidled up to them, Kisame coming up beside them as well.

“I’m fine,” Sasuke insisted, talking mainly to Naruto as he stood up and swatted his hands away.

“Like hell you’re fine!” Naruto disagreed, worried eyes flickering between Sasuke’s eyes, one of which he kept closed.

“If there’s something preventing you from using the Rinnegan-“ Obito started, but Sasuke merely glared at him.

“I said I’m _fine_ ,” he stressed, blinking a few times with a frown.

“Sasuke, someone could have tampered with-“

This time Sasuke directed his glare towards Itachi, shutting him up. Then he straightened up, gritted his teeth and there was another small burst of chakra. Both eyes opening for a second, Itachi had time to glimpse the dark red Mangekyo Sharingan and a purple iris that could only be the Rinnegan. He didn’t have much time to be impressed however, seeing as Sasuke was unable to contain an agonized groan as he pressed his palms over his eyes before falling limp into Naruto’s arms.

“Sasuke!”

Moving on instinct –this _was_ his little brother as far as his eyes could tell– Itachi placed a hand over Sasuke’s chest, checking his heartbeat and breathing. Obito had placed one over Sasuke’s head, while Naruto mostly just clutched at his body.

“He’s unconscious, but not much more,” Obito calmly announced, and Itachi silently agreed.

“Heartbeat is fine,” he added, but the worried crease between Naruto’s eyebrows didn’t disappear.

“What happened? What’s stopping him from using it?”

“That’s something for the medics to determine,” Obito answered Naruto’s questions, silencing a few more that were trying to escape Naruto’s mouth. “I’ll take him there, I’m afraid the rest of you will have to run.”

Itachi stepped back to give him some room, but Naruto was reluctant to hand Sasuke over to Obito.

“It’ll be fine, Naruto,” Itachi reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it, hoping he was correct.

Once Obito had Sasuke in a secure hold, the air in front of him spun and they disappeared into the swirls. Naruto stared at the spot for a moment, before starting to gather up chakra. Itachi dropped his hand in surprise, feeling the sudden amount of it as the tan face held a concentrated look.

“Like I’ll run the whole way!” Naruto exclaimed, then disappeared.

“I forgot the kid could teleport as well,” Kisame commented, and Itachi sucked in a breath before slowly letting it out.

Lovely. Sasuke was quite possibly hurt, and he was left with Shisui and a colleague who wouldn’t know tact if it danced across his nose to run the few hours it took back to Konoha.

“Impressive though, the Rinnegan I mean,” Shisui mused, contemplating the patch of earth where the other three had stood.

Kisame shrugged, starting to move towards the direction of the village.

“Can’t say I managed to see it,” he said. “Alright, are we gonna run or were you planning to get laid first?”

Shisui laughed, but Itachi was going to have a little chat with a certain blue-haired man later.

“That’s very considerate of you, but I’d say Sasuke is priority one,” his cousin said, looking carefree but sending Itachi a strange glance that had him remember that he had no idea where this Sasuke had showed up from.

“Let’s go,” Itachi told them with a sigh, jumping into the trees.

xxx

Naruto ended up in Sasuke’s room. He hadn’t really been thinking much more than _Sasuke_ and _Konoha_ , so he supposed it made sense that he’d automatically pick this particular seal. Leaping out of the window, he rushed towards the hospital across the rooftops, powering his feet with chakra to move faster. Sure, Sasuke’s life energy had seemed fine, and he could feel his steady presence over at the hospital. That didn’t mean Sasuke _was_ fine, and Naruto had time to berate himself a hundred times for not stopping him after the first attempt failed.

He skidded in through the hospital entrance, ignoring the looks he got and instead heading straight for Sasuke. He would have used a window on a higher floor, but he’d been told a few too many times by Sakura how important it was to not disturb the medics at work so he didn’t want to risk interrupting some surgery by accident.

He found Obito walking quickly through a corridor on the fourth floor. Damn it, this was why he needed to put a seal on Sasuke! He just hadn’t dared ask yet, thinking Sasuke wouldn’t want to let him in case he decided to leave the village, and well… after they came here he just hadn’t found a good opportunity.

Obito was following a nurse, but just as he reached him a door opened by the end of the corridor and none other than Orochimaru stepped out.

“I thought I’d told you to stop damaging your students,” he hissed, and Naruto did a double-take.

Not only did Orochimaru look a lot older and less creepy than he remembered from their own dimension, he was also clad in non-descript medic nin clothes with a purple sash around his waist. There were gray strands in his black hair, and wrinkles in the corners of his eyes. Still, he was just as pale and his eyes were the same mustard yellow with slits for pupils.

He gaped, because Obito had looked basically the same minus mask, and Shisui he had no idea about but he looked Uchiha enough and Sasuke hadn’t reacted. Orochimaru, however, had a completely different aura around him.

“This one happens to not be my student,” Obito responded, sounding far too much like he was making jokes and too little like he was concerned over Sasuke’s health.

Naruto sprinted to his side, having stopped in his tracks as he saw Orochimaru.

“Who cares, just heal him!” he shouted, narrowing his eyes at two sets of dark eyebrows being raised on his expense.

“Calm down, Naruto. He simply fainted,” Obito told him, but Naruto didn’t care.

If Sasuke was hurt _at all_ , then he’d beat anyone’s ass for not taking it seriously. He was just about to voice that thought when Orochimaru held up a hand and walked over to Sasuke. Placing the same, elegant hand on Sasuke’s chest, chakra glowing faintly green, he moved it slowly down along his vest. Then he traced back up and over his face, tilting his head back to rest against Obito’s arm.

“Let’s bring him into the examination room, Obito,” he concluded, but when Naruto made a move to follow he stopped him with a hand on his chest. “You wait out here.”

“What?! No way, I-“

“Naruto, you’ll just be in the way with your worrying. I’ll be right back after explaining the situation.”

Naruto stared after them, feeling helpless.

 _He’s not dying,_ he heard Kurama’s amused voice inside his mind.

 _Oh shut up!_ he snapped back, balling his fists and starting to pace up and down the corridor. It took about thirty laps before Obito returned, and Naruto immediately dashed over to search his face for any clues as to Sasuke’s condition.

 _As if you can’t feel it on your own,_ Kurama muttered, but he ignored the fox. What did he know, anyway? If Sasuke had some dangerous disease he doubted he could feel it, just like that.

“Let’s sit down,” Obito suggested, quickly adding “He’s fine,” when Naruto glared at him.

“He better be fine,” he threatened quietly, and Obito gave a faint smile at that.

So far the Uchiha had been acting very reserved, resembling Obito while controlled by Madara more than the real deal. Though, his outfit was slightly different. He wore an open, dark blue robe with the Uchiha symbol on the back. Underneath it he wore a thin, white long-sleeved shirt over black standard ninja pants. The robe kind of reminded him of the Akatsuki cloaks, but much more form-fitting. His face didn’t have the lines on the right side that he was used to see.

“Well?” he asked as they sat, sitting on his hands to stay still.

“Orochimaru is checking over him, and they’ll run a few tests to see if there are any seals that might activate whenever he attempts to use the Rinnegan, or Sharingan for that matter.”

“Wait, you think there was something that _made_ him collapse when he tried it?”

“It’s possible.”

Obito stared at him contemplatively, and it struck Naruto that he had two perfectly normal-looking eyes.

“Didn’t you give one eye to Kakashi?” he asked, thinking he’d like to distract himself from thoughts of Sasuke being in danger.

The other man looked slightly surprised at the question, then leaned back against the wall with a bemused expression.

“You certainly know a lot,” he said. “But perhaps it’s because it’s the same as in your world?”

“Ah, well, yeah,” Naruto replied, scratching at his neck but then reminded himself to sit on his hands again.

His entire body was just itching to run into the examination room and check on Sasuke.

“Not everything’s the same though,” he added, wondering if what happened between Kakashi and Obito was different here, but not sure if it was too personal to ask.

“Well, this one’s made of glass,” Obito told him, tapping his left cheek right underneath the eye. “Now then, why don’t you fill me in on the details you skipped earlier in the forest?”

xxx

When he was finally allowed to enter Sasuke’s room, Naruto’s eyes immediately flew to his unmoving form on the hospital bed.

“He should wake up soon enough,” Orochimaru assured him, hovering behind him in the doorway. “Please inform me when he does.”

Naruto nodded, not really listening. Orochimaru didn’t say anything else, merely closing the door behind himself as he quietly left. He stood for a moment, taking in Sasuke’s pale face and his slowly sinking and rising chest underneath a thin blanket. All the pacing he’d done before, Obito unable to stop him after an hour or so had passed, and now he barely managed to breathe. They’d assured him Sasuke was fine, but how could he trust them when Sasuke was unconscious? He desperately wanted Sasuke’s eyes to open, and look at him with that small crease between his brows, telling him he looked stupid for standing frozen by the door like that…

Taking a deep breath he clenched his fists and walked over to the bed, sitting down next to Sasuke’s hip after a brief moment of hesitation. He looked so peaceful, not reacting when Naruto stretched a hand out to run a finger along his cheek. His finger continued inwards, and he held the backside of his hand in front of Sasuke’s nose to feel warm air against it. Of course, he could feel Sasuke’s chakra, as well as his life force, the connection between them as strong as ever. Even so he still wanted physical evidence, therefore putting his palm over Sasuke’s chest to feel his heartbeat.

It was steady, the same pace as when he slept, and Naruto swallowed harshly against the relief welling up his throat. Exhausted from worrying, even if it had only been an hour and a half or so since they’d arrived at the hospital, Naruto allowed his limbs to weaken and his forehead to connect lightly with Sasuke’s chest. The position was uncomfortable, bending his body in a bad way, but Sasuke’s scent and warmth finally succeeded in calming him down.

Though, that only meant his thought process slowed down enough for him to actually notice how messed up he felt. And Sasuke had only fainted! He rested his right hand on Sasuke’s arm, the fabric of his dark blue standard shirt smooth underneath his bare fingertips, the vest nowhere to be seen. His head followed the movement of Sasuke’s breathing, and closing his eyes he matched his lungs to Sasuke’s rhythm, ignoring the lump in his throat. Sasuke was okay. Everything was fine.

He felt Sasuke draw a deeper breath, stirring a little, and he opened his eyes again to meet dark ones contemplating him. This was probably when he was supposed to sit up, but Naruto couldn’t find the strength in him.

“How long was I out?”

“Just two hours or so.”

Sasuke reached behind himself and moved the pillow so he wasn’t lying flat anymore, but rather half sitting against it. This also meant he scooted up a little, Naruto letting out an involuntary noise of complaint when he had to shift in order to stay moderately comfortable.

“I feel perfectly fine,” Sasuke said, frowning as he took in their surroundings. “There’s just a heavy weight on my stomach.”

When he received a pointed look, Naruto flushed and sat up, letting go of Sasuke’s arm as well and rubbing his hands along his thighs instead.

“Really?” he asked, narrowing his eyes to make sure Sasuke wasn’t making light of his condition.

Instead of replying, Sasuke gave him another long stare, probably analyzing what had happened that caused him to end up in bed.

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke suddenly said, and Naruto spent several long moments trying to figure out why, out of all things, he would say that.

“For what?” he asked, settling for confusion.

“If I can’t use the Rinnegan, then I can’t take you home.”

Silence stretched out between them, and Naruto’s brain was blank for all of three seconds before throwing itself into chaos. Go home? _Take_ him home? Didn’t Sasuke want to go home too? Or was Sasuke thinking Naruto would get angry at him? Had Sasuke been _worried_ about this the whole time because now he sure looked like he had no idea what to say or do and he wasn’t even looking at Naruto anymore. Not to mention Naruto had been much too wrapped up in Sasuke’s sudden collapse to even think about getting back home.

He opened his mouth, but he really had no idea of what to say, so he shut it again and bit the inside of his cheek. His chest was hurting, and he wondered if it was caused by the angry expression on Sasuke’s downcast face.

There was a knock on the door, and he turned his head in time to see Mikoto peeking in. When she saw Sasuke was awake she entered, concern on her face as she walked over to sit on the other side of the bed.

“Oh honey, are you okay?” she asked, stroking his cheek as she examined his face. “You look a little pale, are you sure you should be sitting up?”

“I’m fine,” Sasuke told her, voice monotonous and all emotion disappearing from his face.

She didn’t look convinced, and brought the bag she had with her onto her lap, rummaging through it before presenting him with a bottle of juice.

“Here, drink this,” she told him, leaving no room for argument. “I’ll go tell Orochimaru-san that you’re awake.”

If Sasuke reacted to the name he didn’t show it, merely opening the bottle and obediently starting to drink. Once Mikoto had left he put it down, looking at it for a second before offering it to Naruto.

“I’m good,” he said, and Sasuke shrugged. “Besides, you’re the one who needs it.”

Sasuke scowled at him, but drank some more all the same. Still not sure what to say, Naruto fiddled with his fingers and scraped at the floor with a shoe.

“Just spit it out,” Sasuke sighed when he’d had enough of his squirming, leaning back against the pillow after placing the bottle on a small table next to the bed.

Again, he opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out. Frustrated, he kicked at one of the metal legs belonging to the bed.

“We’ll figure something out,” Sasuke continued, and Naruto sent him a sharp look.

Wasn’t it Naruto who was supposed to reassure Sasuke in this situation? But Sasuke appeared to have recovered from his initial pessimism, his gaze steady as it met Naruto’s. Something fluttered inside his belly, but he hardly noticed. It wasn’t the first time that happened, anyway. What he _did_ notice, however, was how messy Sasuke’s bangs were. He carefully reached out to smoothen them down, so that they framed Sasuke’s eyes like usual. They were still staring at each other, and Naruto was relieved that his best friend didn’t seem to need an answer.

Still, he managed a small nod before Mikoto returned with Orochimaru in tow. Her voice had sounded slightly upset, but whatever she’d been saying, she dropped the conversation before Naruto could guess the topic. Her eyes zoned in on the half-empty juice bottle, then rose to Sasuke. Letting out a disagreeing noise, Sasuke still reached for the bottle and drank a bit more, earning himself a satisfied smile. Naruto couldn’t help but smile a little as well at the sight.

“Now then, Sasuke,” Orochimaru started, placing his hands on his hips and staring down at him. “Your body is perfectly fine, we couldn’t find any seals or anything else that could possibly hinder you from using your techniques, _but_ …”

Naruto held his breath, gripping at the sides of his pants.

“That said, I’m sure you’re aware of your deteriorating eyesight due to overuse of the Uchiha clan’s bloodline limit.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not supposed to deteriorate,” he calmly responded, which in turn caused Orochimaru to raise a brow.

“No? Then I suppose you can see the details on the bricks in the building over there perfectly clear.”

Sasuke glanced out the windows, his eyebrow dropping to its normal level.

“Well, you seem to know that better than me,” he deadpanned.

Orochimaru actually smirked at that, turning to a displeased Mikoto.

“I’m very sorry, Mikoto-san, but I must say I like this Sasuke slightly better than your son.”

She smiled, but it was a very strained one, and Orochimaru quickly dropped the subject.

Naruto, on the other hand, sat frozen. He’d been told by Sasuke that his eyes were fine since they were Itachi’s, not his own, and he’d never had any problems before. Not even after the fight with Kaguya, and Sakura had made really thorough checks. Was Orochimaru telling the truth? He frowned, waiting to see if Sasuke would say anything else.

He didn’t. Instead, he calmly faced forwards, waiting just like Naruto.

“I’ll have Tsunade check it over later, but you’re free to leave for now.”

Sasuke nodded, and Naruto tuned out the conversation that started between Mikoto and Orochimaru regarding whether or not Sasuke was really fine enough to leave his bed.

“Sasuke?” he asked quietly, poking at his arm when he didn’t respond at first.

“I’m fine,” Sasuke repeated, as if on autopilot, causing Naruto to grit his teeth.

“Like hell you’re fine if-“

One look from Sasuke silenced him, and he clicked his tongue but didn’t say anything else. Fine, they could talk later, but _oh_ , were they going to _talk_.


	13. What now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I'm updating twice today (check out my PWP [Play With Me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2708174) if you haven't already). Though, to be fair, I finished this one yesterday. I had planned to write more for it, but decided to split it up. Therefore, this chapter doesn't have much drama.
> 
> There are a couple of things I want to clarify. Let's see if I can remember them all. Well. Sasuke isn't going blind, so no need to worry about that. But you'll see after reading this chapter, I think. Also, this story doesn't follow canon when it comes to Naruto and Sasuke's fight, so basically, that didn't happen, and it's not like the details of what happened a year ago matter that much anyway. Whatever's relevant will be brought up, but feel free to ask questions. And with that I mean that Naruto never made Sasuke promise to stay alive for his sake, so that's why Sasuke is kinda lost at the moment and has just been staying in Konoha while trying to figure out what it is he wants to do. I will delve more deeply into that later, I suppose.
> 
> Then there's the fact that I'm giving myself a lot of freedom with this world, for example, bringing in characters that are very much dead in canon. Let's just make everyone happy, you know? And you're free to make requests about characters, too. But there are many more coming up that I haven't written in yet. There are seriously too many characters in this damn manga... sigh.
> 
> For those of you who haven't watched the movie: a small reminder that Sakura's dad was the fourth Hokage and died a hero in order to save the village. I'll make up my own reasons for that, probably.
> 
> Next chapter we'll get some ItaShi and emotional Naruto POV, as for now, let's hear what Sasuke has to say.

It was later the same day, and they’d gathered in the living room. Fugaku had joined them, both he and Obito occupying armchairs while Sasuke sat on the couch. To his left was Mikoto, still of the firm belief that he needed rest and not a meeting, but relenting at Obito’s request. To his right sat Naruto, a frown marring his face ever since he’d woken up.

He stared at Obito. As a child, he never got to hear much about him. All he knew was that he’d been one of Kakashi’s important people, and there was some crap with a girl. But Obito had given Kakashi his eye, and he wondered if the same thing had happened here. As it was, he settled for staring instead of asking. He’d taken off his robe, but his forehead protector was still secured around his forehead in stark contrast to the broken man he’d encountered during the war. Kakashi hadn’t told them much afterwards, either, but at least it seemed they’d been able to resolve a few things between them.

Obito was staring back, dark eyes contemplating him, expression calm and almost… reassuring. This person at least seemed a lot more aware of the harshness of reality than many of the others he’d met so far.

“So,” Obito started, glancing briefly at Naruto’s narrowed eyes. “Why don’t you tell us how you came to develop the Rinnegan?”

Sasuke thinned his lips.

“Is it necessary?”

“Well,” Obito said, the corner of his lips twitching slightly in humor. “You’ve appeared in a different dimension and so far, you collapsing seem to have been the only strange thing to have happened. At this point, I’d say anything related to it is important.”

He could feel Naruto fidget beside him, but Sasuke couldn’t ignore that Obito had a point.

“It was during a war last year. I got it from the Sage of the Six Paths.”

Silence fell for a minute, and he could feel all eyes on him. Sasuke, however, kept his gaze locked with Obito’s.  There had been recognition flickering through his eyes, and it raised more questions than he could be bothered to address right now. Especially since his parents shared a look but stayed silent after receiving an additional one from Obito.

“I see. I was wondering why you seemed relatively sane.”

Naruto snorted at that, but Sasuke kept his face impassive. They weren’t here to talk about some of the less rational decisions of his life.

“And the sage had a specific reason for choosing you?”

He shrugged, gesturing towards Naruto.

“It was mostly for Naruto.”

When Obito turned his gaze to the only blond person in the room, Naruto flushed slightly and fumbled for words.

“Um, it was kind of a, mutual thing.”

“But you received powers as well?” Obito urged, and Naruto nodded. “Good. Then we can conduct a small experience. Why don’t you try to call forth that power, now?”

Sasuke immediately felt uncomfortable. He could see what Obito was getting to, and he wasn’t particularly pleased about Naruto having to suffer just to test the theory. On the other hand, it was the easiest way to know.

“Alright…” Naruto trailed off, but got up and headed over to an empty spot in the room.

“Hold on a minute,” Mikoto interrupted. “If the result could be the same as with Sasuke, shouldn’t he be doing this under supervision of a medic?”

“Yes, we should wait until Tsunade has time,” Fugaku agreed, and Obito looked ready to change his mind when Naruto assured them that it was fine.

Of _course_ he’d say it was fine. That reckless dobe. Grinding his teeth, he watched as Naruto concentrated, right hand put in front of his face with index and middle finger pointing upwards. Soon the familiar feeling of Kyuubi chakra filled the room, Naruto glowing yellow, but barely a second later he flashed a lighter yellow before falling to his knees, groaning and clutching his right wrist.

“ _Shit_ ,” he hissed, and Sasuke was kneeling next to him before the idea to move registered in his mind.

“Idiot,” he said, inspecting his hand but seeing no obvious damage, though of course the bandage was in the way.

“Says you,” Naruto countered, and they glared at each other for a couple of seconds.

“Are you hurt?” Fugaku sounded mildly worried, but Naruto stood up with a slight grimace.

“Just my wrist,” he assured them, trying to roll it slightly and making another grimace. “Kinda lame compared to losing my _eyesight_.”

Sasuke sighed, because it really wasn’t that bad. He just had to focus extra hard in order to see details at a long distance. Alright so maybe those details were still a bit blurred, but he could see perfectly fine. It was nothing compared to the time his own eyes had started losing sight because of the Mangekyo Sharingan. He was certain that Naruto wasn’t going to let him off easy for trying a second time, though.

“You should probably have someone look it over today, anyway,” Obito commented, and Naruto nodded reluctantly.

“You should go immediately,” Mikoto argued. “Sasuke needs to rest.”

“What? No!”

Letting his knuckles rap lightly across the top of Naruto’s head, Sasuke gave him a stern look.

“Half an hour,” he said, Naruto crossing his arms with a pout.

“I’m totally fine,” the idiot muttered, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Considering he himself was still on painkillers for the throbbing in his left eye, he was under no illusion that Naruto’s wrist – and probably hand as well – wasn’t hurting a lot. He was lucky to get away with just that.

“Well, I’ve been called to a meeting with the Hokage, so I should probably be on my way. Let’s have a proper talk tomorrow? Try to see if you can think of anything that could be relevant.”

Nodding towards Obito as he stood up, Sasuke had to admit he was thankful there wouldn’t be any follow-up questions at the moment. He and Naruto would have time to sort out the new development first.

“Fugaku, Mikoto, I’ll see you again later,” Obito added with a small smile. “Naruto, make sure you visit the hospital.”

With that he left, and Sasuke uncertainly turned his attention back to his mother.

“Why don’t you go up to your room for now, and I’ll fix you something to eat,” she said, sighing lightly. “And that will be exactly thirty minutes from now,” she told Naruto, who made an annoyed sound but didn’t dare disagree.

Walking to his room, he could feel Naruto’s gaze boring into his skull. He really didn’t know how to explain himself even if Naruto asked. But they had more important things to discuss than Sasuke blurting out a random apology. He just hated the fact that he’d been expecting himself to easily be able to bring them home after figuring out just _where_ home was, and now he was little more than useless. Not that he personally felt much need to go back, but _Naruto_ … Naruto had an entire village waiting for him, and he’d missed the celebration on his birthday. Of course, Sasuke wasn’t agreeing one hundred percent with the suspicious change of heart the villagers had gone through simply because Naruto was a hero now, but Naruto still deserved the recognition.

Though, if Naruto was happy as long as Sasuke was there, he wouldn’t complain.

He sat down in the chair by the desk, hanging his chuunin vest over the back and rolling up his sleeves. It wasn’t as hot as the previous days, but still warm enough that he was starting to wonder if they had a different climate here. Naruto plopped down on his bed, crossing his legs and leaning his left elbow on his thigh, resting his chin in his hand. The right one he gingerly placed over his crossed shins, and Sasuke pulled out the small package with painkillers he’d received from Orochimaru earlier. He threw it to Naruto, who merely glanced at it as it landed in his lap.

“I’m totally fine,” he said, but Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “What, you can say you’re fine but I can’t?”

“Obviously.”

Naruto threw the package back at his face, but he caught it with an amused look.

“I’m going to the hospital anyway,” Naruto muttered, rubbing his cheek against his left shoulder absentmindedly.

Sasuke waited for him to continue, but nothing came. Those blue eyes simply stared into his for several minutes, barely blinking. In the end, it was Sasuke who averted his eyes, looking out the window instead.

“What’s bothering you?”

Naruto’s voice was quiet, and Sasuke took a moment to marvel over the moron’s growth.

“What makes you think there is something bothering me?”

Letting out a groan, the blond fell backwards to sit slumped against the wall.

“Things would be so much easier if you could just admit what it is. But fine, wanna know what’s bothering me? The fact that no one reacted when you mentioned the Sage.”

“Mm. Did you notice how both my parents apparently follow Obito’s orders?”

Naruto nodded, running a hand through his hair, only managing to mess it up more than it already was. Sasuke felt a strange urge to fix it, the way Naruto had done to him earlier at the hospital.

“But Sasuke… if we can’t use the Sage’s powers…”

“It could mean someone’s blocking it on purpose, that is, the same person that brought us here. Assuming it wasn’t simply a fluke.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to think it wasn’t. I mean, when I tried using the sage chakra, _man_ it _hurt_. Maybe we just-“

Naruto paused, eyes widening a fraction as he straightened up.

“Hey, Sasuke… Do you think the sage chakra is something different here? Like, it has the opposite effect or something? I mean, think about it. Almost everyone has a different personality, the wars never happened, and Obito knew about the Sage.”

Contemplating Naruto’s idea, Sasuke subconsciously lifted a hand to brush across his left eye.

“But don’t you think they would have told us if it was something harmful? Maybe they simply resolved the conflict between Ashura and Indra earlier on in history.”

“Yeah…” Naruto gnawed on a thumb, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Even now, after a year spent together with him, Sasuke sometimes forgot how much Naruto _thought_ before acting nowadays. Then his best friend shrugged, placing his hands behind his neck but wincing, lowering them again with a scowl at his right wrist.

“Well, whatever. If someone wants to fight, like some kind of alternate Kaguya or whatever, we’ll just beat them up.”

Sasuke felt his heart sink. That was the problem though, and Naruto picked up on it judging by the way his eyes narrowed as he leaned forwards to observe Sasuke.

“What?”

“It’s nothing,” he replied, shaking his head, but Naruto was in a persistent mood.

“Bastard, don’t be stupid. We might be stuck here, but we don’t know what will happen or _when_ , so you probably won’t have time for explaining later. So spill it.”

Giving Naruto an annoyed look, Sasuke pursed his lips and remained silent much to Naruto’s displeasure. When he shifted, still refusing to talk, Naruto huffed and got on his feet to stalk over to him. Stopping in front of him, Naruto grabbed his shoulders with both hands, apparently ignoring the pain in his right one.

“Come on,” he urged, squeezing him slightly. “I keep telling you that you can talk to me, and that means sometimes, you _have_ to talk to me.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, giving him a mocking stare. Naruto didn’t let it bother him.

“You’re the smart one,” he continued, surprisingly calm. “Something I’m not. So, if there’s a problem, I’m not gonna figure it out on my own. So _tell_ me.”

He took a deep breath to continue, but Sasuke sighed and relaxed in his seat before he could say anything else. He knew that, logically, he needed to tell him. He also knew that he had a bit of a problem when it came to pride. Logic, however, didn’t always prevail over emotion. Still, Naruto was forcing him to meet his eyes, holding him in place, so he might as well get it over with.

“If I can’t use the power we got from the Sage, then I can’t use my Sharingan either,” he confessed, keeping his face as blank as possible while Naruto frowned heavily.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that I can’t separate them anymore. It’s an automatic thing. If I try to use the Sharingan…”

“It’s the Rinnegan that appears?”

He nodded.

“So? We’ll just beat them anyway.”

Naruto just didn’t _understand_.

“Dobe, I haven’t fought without using it since before the Land of Waves!” Some of the frustration must have leaked into his voice, because Naruto lifted his left hand to flick his cheek.

“You’re being stupid. Sasuke, you’re _strong_.”

“Easy for you to say,” he shot back. “You can still use the Kyuubi’s power, and the toad sage power as well. What do I have? Basically nothing.”

He glared at Naruto when his cheek was pinched instead of flicked, swatting his hand away. Naruto, on the other hand, was staring at him with a look he couldn’t quite place. He wasn’t annoyed, but he certainly didn’t look pleased.

“I don’t even have my katana,” he added for emphasis.

“You’re _really_ being stupid now. But fine, you think you’re weak now? So train and get stronger, then. Don’t sit here whining like a little baby.”

Anger flashed through him, he could feel the heat of it filling his chest, but something held him back from lashing out at Naruto. Because Naruto was _right_. Obviously. It didn’t mean Sasuke had to be happy about it, especially not now that the moron started grinning at him.

Then came the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs, and the grin disappeared off Naruto’s face.

“There’s no way it’s been half an hour!”

“Sure felt like it though,” Sasuke mumbled, wincing when Naruto kicked at his toes.

“I’ll come back later. We’ve got loads to talk about!”

“Don’t.”

“But Sasuke we _do_ ha-“

“I said _rest_ ,” Mikoto hissed as she pushed the door open with one foot.

“Sasuke’s totally resting! See, he’s in a chair! Super relaxing!”

“Oh, and you hovering like that over him is supposed to be relaxing? No arguments when you’re _both_ hurt.”

She walked past him to place a tray of food on the desk, then turned to Naruto with an expression that left no room for disagreement.

“We have stuff to talk about,” Naruto tried, but was helpless when Mikoto started ushering him out of the room.

“You can talk tomorrow. Now go see a doctor or I will make sure it needs _surgery_.”

“That’s really not fair,” Naruto protested, their voices growing distant as the door closed behind them, leaving Sasuke on his own.

He sat for a while listening to their continued arguing, knowing Naruto was too much of a knuckle-headed idiot to stop even when he’d already lost. When the front door slammed shut he let out a sigh, turning to the food and figuring that he might as well eat and try to get some sleep.

He should have known better than to think Naruto would give up.

A blond tuft of hair appeared outside his window, followed by a tan face with the mouth forming a demand to let him in. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, merely picking up his chopsticks and deciding to try one of the fried vegetables on the plate. He could _feel_ Naruto’s annoyance at his actions, and tried his best not to smirk.

Then Mikoto opened the door again and yelled at Naruto to leave, and he finally did but only after mouthing at Sasuke that he’d be back later.

Sasuke pretended not to see it.

xxx

Tsunade put down the mission report with a heavy sigh, much to the amusement of the room’s second occupant.

“Keep sighing like that and soon not even your Hyakugou seal will be able to hide the wrinkles.”

She sent an unimpressed look at the man lounging against a window, his green-grey eyes twinkling in amusement due to his overused joke.

“Nawaki, don’t you have anything better to do?”

He grinned, shrugging lightly, looking perfectly comfortable where he stood dressed in casual clothing.

“Probably,” he agreed in a lighthearted voice, “But I seem to recall a certain Hokage requesting my presence. On my day off, too.”

“You’re here as a representative of the council, that doesn’t count as off duty.”

Her little brother snorted, though she supposed he could hardly be called little. People tended to believe he was the older sibling if they didn’t know better, but she couldn’t really blame them for that.

“And here I thought you missed my company,” he mocked, but the easy grin never left his face.

Reaching for another mission report, Tsunade rolled her eyes. She would agree if she didn’t think it would go straight to his head.

“You know,” Nawaki continued, “Every time I see you at work like this, I thank myself for never joining in any Hokage election.”

“You’re assuming someone would vote for you,” she shot back, pleased when he let out an indignant sound.

For a mature ninja with a respectable teacher job, he sure was easy to pick on.

“Fine, I’ll let you have that one. And it’s not like I can avoid paper work, either.”

Tsunade hummed, tapping her pencil against her cheek. She couldn’t help feeling a little restless. Naruto and Sasuke had picked a bad time to arrive, considering she was so busy with the elections that were only two months off. Though, to be honest, she couldn’t wait for another Hokage to relieve some of the paperwork from her.

“I just hope Obito won’t give up halfway through and decide he’s better off travelling…”

“Oh ho ho, playing favorites, are we?”

“I’m entitled to an opinion, aren’t I?” She flicked her hair irritably, pushing her glasses back up her nose. “I’m not the one who decides anyway. And it’s about time we get an Uchiha as Hokage, don’t you think? They’ve got the worst track record of declining, seriously.”

“Well, it isn’t that surprising. Mixing the justice system with the village leader can cause troubles.”

Sighing again, Tsunade twirled the pencil in her hand and leaned back in her chair. That had to be enough paper signing for a week.

“And me meddling in the hospital’s affairs isn’t? I know it’s a delicate balance, but dammit Nawaki, the Uchiha co-founded this village and so far, all the leaders have been connected to the Senju clan in some way.”

Nawaki nodded thoughtfully, not that they hadn’t been over the same thing several times already. The candidates had been decided months ago, after an initial process weeding out the unsuitable ones. It would have been a lot easier if the Third hadn’t announced his retirement so suddenly a year and a half ago. It sort of felt like ever since she got lone charge of the village there had been strange things happening. Well, _two_ strange things happening, both of them connected to a certain orange-clad ninja.

“You’re forgetting the fourth,” Nawaki calmly reminded her, but she waved a hand at him to dismiss it.

“Yes, and he died a hero ages ago barely three years after getting the position. I can’t believe how the old man managed to be on his own until I joined him. A year and a half of this stress and I’m ready to throw a chair at the next person arriving with a stack of papers to go through.”

“I’ll be sure to warn Shizune,” her brother muttered under his breath, finding her irritation much too amusing for her taste. “But you’ll have to give Sarutobi some credit though, he knew how to run a village.”

“Yes, bless him. If it weren’t for his guidance I wouldn’t be nearly as appreciated as I am. Still, why he’d go and bury himself in those old books instead is beyond me…”

Laughing , Nawaki pushed off the window and walked over to pat her shoulder.

“I take it you’re not planning on following in his footsteps?”

She sent him a scathing look.

“Don’t even bother, I know what you want to say,” she warned him, shoving him away when he gave her the fakest look of innocence she’d ever encountered.

A polite knock on the door interrupted their bickering, and the Anbu guard outside poked her head inside to announce that Obito had arrived. At once both she and Nawaki became serious, observing the younger ninja as he thanked the guard before nodding at them.

“Hokage-sama,” he greeted her with, stopping a few steps away from her desk.

“You’re very early,” she remarked. “Not that I mind. But a month is a little extreme even for you.”

He smiled, showing a bit of teeth when Nawaki signed something behind her back. She’d punish him for it later, though her brother knew where to draw the line of his teasing. Most of the time, at least.

“Well, I had a little run-in with a certain couple of ninjas. I did expect some emotional drama between my assistant and his cousin, but I have to admit the dimensional travelers were a little surprising.”

“Yes, Orochimaru informed me of what happened. Any clues?”

“Actually, yes. I do think we should keep this to ourselves at the moment, however.”

“Ah, hiding things from the others in the council, my favorite activity,” Nawaki joked, causing Tsunade to roll her eyes.

“Ignore him,” she told Obito. “So, what did you find out?”

“Well, I expect to drag a few more details out of them tomorrow, but Sasuke admitted he’d received his powers from the sage of the six paths. Fugaku and Mikoto heard him, too. And, it seems, the same thing applies to Naruto. When he tried to use it, he collapsed as well. He didn’t fall unconscious, but he only tried once while Sasuke tried twice. It caused damage in his right wrist, the one that’s bandaged.”

Silence filled the room for a moment, all three of them processing the information.

“This would make things entirely different compared to last time, then,” Nawaki mused eventually, wondering in passing if Obito had been told yet that the masked man had been his alternate version.

“I’m expecting Itachi to report in as well, as soon as he arrives,” Tsunade said. “Obito, pick them both up tomorrow morning. It seems they have some explaining to do.”

The dark-haired man nodded once before turning and leaving again. Placing her hands in front of her, Tsunade recalled a certain memory, sure that Nawaki was thinking the same. It was the memory of her grandfather, proudly holding up his right hand after retelling the story of how he and Madara saved the world in their youth…


	14. I need him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me a while, for reasons and stuff. But, I'm 100% sure that to me, it was worth the wait because I literally came up with all the important things in this chapter yesterday. 
> 
> I have a very important headcanon that this story resolves around, and I want to mention it now so that you really understand everything in this chapter. You know how Sasuke has been manipulated most of his life, by Itachi, Orochimaru, and so on? I think he's also been manipulated by Indra. I mean, think about it. Sasuke and Naruto were always watching each other, even before the Uchiha massacre. It makes a lot of sense to think that this was initiated by Indra and Ashura. For Naruto, there's not really a discrepancy between his own reasons and Ashura's, they both want to reach out and make frends with Sasuke/Indra. However, Indra is, as we know, someone who wants to fight Ashura and kill him. Sasuke, on the other hand, felt close to Naruto and wanted to be his friend as well.
> 
> Imagine this discrepancy first coming to its peak in the Land of Waves. Sasuke throws himself in front of Naruto, prepared to selflessly give up his life for him. That kiiiiind of goes against Indra's plans for him. They need to be separated, because Naruto is influencing Sasuke too much. Orochimaru observes this later on. And, Orochimaru must suit Indra's purposes perfectly. Even if revenge on Itachi might not have much to do with Ashura, it's the perfect way to get stronger and well, you know the deal. 
> 
> Then we get to the Valley of the End. Sasuke basically kills Naruto first, but Naruto survives and the fight goes on. In the end, Sasuke can't bring himself to kill him, and leaving Naruto feels like ripping off half his body. I'm thinking Sasuke and Indra have been doing some heavy fighting within his mind since day 1. 
> 
> Sasuke loves Naruto. Indra hates Ashura. 
> 
> You get the point, so I'll just leave you with this angsty little chapter. It's really packed with stuff so pay attention! Besides, a little something you've all been eagerly waiting for is included as well!

About an hour after Naruto had left, Mikoto and Fugaku having some business to attend to and leaving as well, Sasuke sat out on the porch. He’d picked a spot in the shadow by the door, but even so the late afternoon sun warmed him up pleasantly. He was leaning back against the wall, one leg bent and the other stretched out in front of him, staring ahead at nothing in particular. It was nice to get some time alone even if he had found it impossible to sleep, though he was sure the dobe would be back soon enough. They hadn’t managed to finish their conversation – or perhaps it was more of an argument. Still, Sasuke couldn’t help but feel slightly reassured by Naruto’s earlier words. He just really disliked this feeling of helplessness, not knowing what to do from now on. Waiting was never a talent of his.

It certainly didn’t help that these past few days had been rather intense, from the birthday party to the drugging incident to now, feeling stripped of most of his fighting power. These were the moments he wished he could be more like his best friend, always determined, always with a strong front that didn’t crack if you started poking at it. Well, perhaps with the exception of Sasuke doing the poking, but he hadn’t done much of the sort. He had been slowly getting used to life in Konoha again, and while he did have many things he wanted to change, things he wanted to bring into the light, he’d been sort of putting it off. Maybe he was simply waiting for Naruto to become Hokage. While he was naïve, he was also eager to make things better, and they’d had a couple of late night conversations about what Naruto wanted to do.

Those times, Sasuke had mostly listened. One of the first days he’d been back he and Naruto had been arguing, it was a silly thing over whether or not Sasuke should really live alone. Sasuke had, of course, won the argument, but there was something Naruto had told him that stuck with him and refused to be forgotten.

_I just want you to live for your own sake, Sasuke._

It was an alien thought, that had left him feeling slightly at a loss. Living for himself sounded like the opposite of everything he’d been brought up to believe. He’d been living for his clan, for Itachi, for so long that he couldn’t remember if there had ever been a time when he didn’t. Even announcing that he wanted to become Hokage at the battlefield had been mainly because of Itachi, though part of it was because of his need to figure things out for himself and make sure nothing similar to what happened with Itachi ever happened again.

Then they’d arrived here. He still had trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that here, the Uchiha clan was proud but not power-hungry, large but not confined to a certain district. Everyone seemed… _content._ Well, Itachi was a bit of a mystery though. Still, his father was kind and caring, openly encouraging as opposed to how his own had been. His mother, sweet and intelligent just like he remembered her, but with this look of satisfaction in her eyes that he’d never seen before. There was Naori, with her bright smiles and enthusiasm for the police force, and there was his alter ego who seemed nothing but relaxed considering what he’d been told.

And then there was Shisui, who had been looking at Itachi with intense emotion, older than the Shisui of his memories but just as focused on his brother.

Closing his eyes he let out a sigh, allowing his thoughts to drift off to where they had incessantly been trying to take him the past few days. The battlefield. He still wasn’t entirely sure why he’d gone there, why he had decided that helping Naruto was the best course of action. There had been a pull of sorts, pushing him towards the battle. One theory he had was that it was Indra’s chakra, eager to settle things with Ashura. The other theory he liked to ignore.

Itachi had wanted for him to choose his own path, but Sasuke still didn’t know what that path was, or where it led to. Once the battle was over he’d been much too tired, a weariness settling deep in his bones, not defeat, not acceptance. But he was tired of his life and tired of always having to struggle, people lying to him on all sides.

The sage had asked him what he planned to do with his new powers. His first response had been to kill Naruto. It was what he thought he wanted. What he thought he needed. What he thought he _knew_ was the only way to embrace the darkness.

He’d been wrong, and the sage had told him so, too. Had raised his hand and sent him into his own mind, where he, to his surprise, had been fighting Indra’s presence the whole time.

 _Indra_ wanted to kill _Ashura_ , but _Sasuke_ didn’t want to kill _Naruto._

It wasn’t something he wanted to remember, because he’d always taken pride in his own convictions, had clung to them like lifelines in an otherwise dead existence. But _Sasuke_ had always been watching Naruto. _Sasuke_ had always wanted to reach out to him, had always felt a connection.

 _Indra_ wanted him to die.

But Sasuke had won and Naruto had become the one person he couldn’t kill, the one person he wouldn’t let someone else manipulate him into killing. The one person he had left.

Naruto, of course, didn’t know this. He didn’t plan on letting him find out, either, because honestly he didn’t want to remember it himself. It was too painful. Every time he let himself glimpse at the truth, something twisted inside his gut.

He’d been controlled. He’d been used. He’d separated himself from the one person that could have helped him. _Sasuke_ had been hurting that time, had been crying bent over his best friend. _Indra_ had pushed him on his feet to follow Orochimaru’s call.

 _Sasuke_ had been weak.

Hugging his legs to his chest, he stared into nothingness. This past year had been spent in what felt like limbo. As much as he tried to deny it, Naruto was his anchor. He was the only reason Sasuke could pretend, to himself as well, that things were alright. He was simply trudging onwards with no purpose, hoping silently that once Naruto became Hokage…

When Naruto became Hokage, Sasuke would keep him safe. It wasn’t a purpose in life, but it was a reason to exist, and it was better than nothing. Naruto had told him to live for himself, but Sasuke simply didn’t know _how_.

Deep in his morose thoughts, he barely reacted when the front door opened and two people entered. It wasn’t until they were standing rather close to the slightly open door next to him, that Sasuke registered them to be Itachi and Shisui.

“Itachi, please. Can we at least talk about this?”

“We’ve already talked about it.”

“No, we really haven’t.”

There were faint noises of a scuffle, and when Sasuke leaned to peek inside, he could see Itachi pressed against the kitchen counter with Shisui’s body holding him still, both of them staring hard at each other.

“We talked the whole way here,” Itachi insisted, causing Shisui to sigh.

“No, I was talking and you were trying to ignore me and change the subject.”

“There were more important things to-“

“Itachi, _please_. It took you five minutes to explain about the whole dimension traveler ordeal. I know Kisame was there for most of the trip, but still.”

They fell silent, and Sasuke held his breath. When he was a child, Shisui and Itachi had always had something special, that he was jealous of. He didn’t like sharing his brother. The question flickered through his mind whether or not this world’s Sasuke felt the same, but it didn’t really matter.

What mattered, was the way Shisui’s hands slid up Itachi’s forearms to cup his face, thumbs brushing his cheekbones.

“I know you’re angry that I added your name to the Hokage election, and that Obito then chose me as his future assistant should he win. But you also know that I couldn’t possibly be _your_ assistant no matter how much I’d like to.”

“You shouldn’t have entered me at all.”

Itachi’s voice was low and calm, but it sent goose bumps up Sasuke’s arms. Shisui, however, appeared unaffected.

“You’re a good choice,” he stated convincingly, even as Itachi’s eyes narrowed in a glare. “Besides, I’m not the only one who thinks that. Believe it or not, but you’re popular. You’ve got good diplomatic experience from working with Akatsuki, the other Kage know of you, and-“

Itachi placed his hand over Shisui’s mouth, silencing him.

“Yes, but _you’re_ the one who suggested me.”

“You could have declined,” Shisui mumbled, prying Itachi’s hand off.

“Oh, sure,” Itachi drawled, voice dripping sarcasm. “First, I decline working for the police force even though father obviously wants me to take over after him. Then, I decline becoming Hokage. Not at all disrespectful towards the clan.”

“They would have understood.” Shisui looked troubled, holding Itachi’s hand against his chest.

“Well, I didn’t think I’d be picked as one of the final candidates,” Itachi muttered with an added sigh.

“I knew you would be, but you didn’t believe me,” Shisui pointed out, which didn’t seem to improve Itachi’s mood. “Oh come on, you graduated early, took twice as many classes as anyone, excelled in everything, then spent a couple years with Akatsuki. Plus, you’re very good-looking. There’s no way you wouldn’t be chosen.”

Itachi made an angry noise, but Shisui looked like he’d had enough of his attitude. To Sasuke’s immense surprise, he hugged Itachi close and kissed his cheek, his lips lingering for much longer than even Sasuke could think was platonic.

“I’m sorry, Itachi. You know I love you, but I also need to think about the future of the village, and my own career. I think you’d be a great choice and I know you’d do your very best. But since I can’t be your personal assistant, being asked to become Obito’s is a very good opportunity for me. Besides, I was going crazy with boredom without you in the village.”

“So selfish,” Itachi sighed, but wrapped his arms around his lower back anyway. “You could have entered yourself, instead.”

“That’s impossible, and you know it. I’m much too scatterbrained.” Shisui leaned back again, smiling wide at Itachi. “Besides, if you’re Hokage we can have some nice, hot sex on that desk.”

If Sasuke hadn’t already been frozen in shock, he would have choked at hearing that. Instead, he speechlessly watched Itachi roll his eyes and do nothing to stop Shisui from pecking his lips.   

“I still haven’t forgiven you,” Itachi murmured as Shisui switched to kissing down the side of his neck. “You’d better be hoping I don’t win.”

“Also impossible,” Shisui insisted.

The look the two shared had Sasuke’s heart skip a beat, then thrum painfully against his ribs. He didn’t know what to think, or how to react. When their lips met again, Sasuke forced his gaze away and got up, stiffly walking over to the little pond. He ignored the surprised “Sasuke?” called after him, fists clenching around the sleeves of his shirt as he crossed his arms.

His body felt like it was burning. The smile on Itachi’s face was a smile he’d never seen on him before. It was different from how his brother used to smile when he was a kid, different from the smile as Itachi left him for the last time.

It was a smile that Sasuke had seen on one other person only.

 

xxx

 

As Naruto reluctantly ran to his parents’ house, he couldn’t help but mumble angrily to himself. Why did people have to try and separate him and Sasuke all the time? It was like a curse. There were many people back in Konoha who believed Sasuke was better off outside the village, who wouldn’t mind making him into something of a first choice for high-risk missions. Even Kakashi seemed to think that Sasuke was partly at fault, no matter how many times Naruto tried to explain to him what the truth actually _meant_.

But no, Sasuke was convenient to blame. He didn’t want to think about what they could possibly be saying now that they’d both disappeared together. That’s why he needed to solve this as fast as possible, so they could get back and make sure no one had Sasuke discredited again.

“ _Sasuke is all you think about,”_ Kurama complained, but Naruto ignored him.

Once he had arrived, finding no one at home, he decided to take a shower and maybe get some sleep. His wrist still hurt, and he gingerly pulled off his clothes before he stepped underneath the hot water.

“ _You were supposed to go to the hospital_ ,” Kurama pointed out, and Naruto sighed because he really couldn’t ignore him again.

“Feel free to heal me, then,” he muttered, using his left hand only to wash his hair.

“ _I don’t see why you can’t go_ ,” the fox muttered, but did send some chakra to get to work on it. “ _I’m not your personal medic_.”

“I don’t want them seeing the mark,” Naruto admitted, wincing when an extra shot of pain seared through his arm. “Hey, careful with that!”

“ _Oh shut up, you should be lucky you can even move around like this. I know the Uzumaki clan has some high level of pain tolerance, but there’s splinters of bone everywhere_.”

“What, I’ve had worse,” Naruto argued, then paused. “What do you mean _splinters_? Like what Lee had? Oh shit, does that mean I can never use my hand again?!”

“ _Oh relax, I’ve got this. Most of the bone is fine. You just keep worrying about your husband_.”

“I’m not a girl, so there’s no way he can be my husband,” Naruto exclaimed indignantly, then realized he probably wasn’t helping himself. “Ugh, whatever.”

“ _So, are you sneaking back to see him once you’re out of the shower?”_

Naruto pointedly ignored him.

“ _I guess you’ll wait until tonight. You seem to have a thing for sleeping in the same bed._ ”

“I’m not listening.”

Kurama’s chuckles accompanied him as he finished and started drying himself instead. His wrist was still throbbing, and every time Kurama fixed one of the splinters it caused him to grimace in pain. He was starting to feel tired, the events of the past days catching up on him. When he entered his (Menma’s) room, he immediately fell face first onto the bed, groaning at the pain in his poor wrist. He hadn’t bothered to get dressed, and now he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was tired and hungry and in pain, and Sasuke wasn’t even there.

“ _You’re whining_ ,” Kurama informed him, as if he didn’t know already.

“Shut up,” he shot back, the words muffled against his pillow.

He’d just close his eyes for a second and then get up again.

 

xxx

 

When he snapped back into focus, it was his ninja instincts telling him that something was wrong. Sure enough he could hear muffled noises before the window was pulled open, letting in the fresh evening air. He must have slept quite a lot more than a few seconds, judging by the lack of light in the room. Staying as still as possible he prepared for a possible attack, though the two people outside emanated no killing intent so far. Instead, they seemed to take their sweet time before climbing inside, Naruto starting to wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him considering what the low sounds they produced reminded him of.

“Dammit, Menma, not out here,” Sasuke’s voice hissed, and while Naruto probably should have relaxed knowing it wasn’t an enemy, he instead did the opposite.

There were some sort of wet, sucking noises, and Naruto’s eyes flew open.

“But you evidently like it,” Menma replied, sounding smug, and did Naruto _really_ sound like that?

“I like it in private,” was Sasuke’s haughty response, sounding too much like his own Sasuke for Naruto to feel comfortable.

“Oh? Then how about this?” Menma asked, and there was a rustle of clothing before Sasuke started making strange noises that sounded suspiciously much like in those porn videos Konohamaru had shown him when-

“Holy fucking ramen!” he yelled as his eyes took in the sight of a copy of himself with his hands down the front of Sasuke’s pants, their silhouettes showing clearly in the light of a streetlamp hanging outside.

He’d sat up, grabbing the sheets hard enough for his knuckles to turn white, had there been enough light to see them. Menma and Sasuke had frozen for a second before quickly switching to fighting stances, alert eyes zoning in on him.

“Who’s there?” Menma snapped, and Naruto swallowed his shock for a later occasion.

He sure looked forward to dealing with _that_ particular mental image once he was out of there.

“Oh my,” Sasuke said before he had time to open his mouth however, “Menma, I knew you were kinky, but to send a clone ahead? When did you arrange that?”

Naruto could feel an uncomfortable shiver run down his spine at the purr in Sasuke’s voice, and he slowly changed his position so that he crouched rather than sat on his knees. Somehow, he felt a lot better if his muscles were prepared for an attack.

“That’s not a clone,” Menma disagreed, voice low and calculating. “Identify yourself,” he ordered Naruto, the glint of steel in the faint light convincing Naruto he better start talking.

“I’m Naruto,” he started, nervously waiting for any signs of recognition.

“Hey, isn’t that-“

“I know who it is, Sasuke. And just what exactly are you doing in my room, _Naruto_?”

He really didn’t like the way Menma said his name, like he was some criminal or something! Menma was the one who had killed innocent people, anyway. Okay yeah he was being controlled but-

The barely there whisper was the only thing giving him warning enough to dodge the kunai as it flew straight through where his head had been a second before.

“What the hell!” he complained, glaring at the other two. “Is that how you treat the guy who saved your ass last time? See if I care to do it again.”

Menma let out an annoyed snort, but Sasuke seemed strained with poorly contained laughter.

“You sound like a total dork,” he wheezed out, much to the annoyance of both blonds.

“Shut up,” Menma muttered, still staring Naruto down even though he probably couldn’t see that much of him. “Why don’t you turn the lights on instead of hiding,” he suggested, sounding kind of arrogant.

“Fine,” Naruto answered, probably sounding rude, attaching a silent “jerk” inside his mind that had Kurama snort at him.

That fox really needed to take another nice, long nap and stop commenting on things that weren’t his business.

He shuffled off the bed and was one step closer to the light button when he remembered the small detail that he was, in fact, still naked.

“Uh, just gonna find my pants,” he mumbled, embarrassed as he tried to remember where he’d thrown his clothes earlier.

Not two seconds later Sasuke had whooshed past him and hit the button, bathing the small room in bright yellow.

“Turn it off!” he squawked, covering his private parts and glaring daggers towards Sasuke.

He didn’t mind being naked in front of _his_ Sasuke, but he really didn’t appreciate the leer on this one’s face as he ran his eyes up and down Naruto’s very naked body.

“Menma, you could do _so_ much better in the abs department,” he commented, causing Menma to stalk over to him and shut off the lights again.

Maybe Menma wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

“He’s not going to fuck you anyway, so what does it matter?” his alter ego said, sounding a little put out.

Naruto was working very hard on ignoring the obvious facts thrown in his face. Finally finding his pants, he tried to rattle off hand signs in his head to drown out the conversation between his and Sasuke’s alter egos.

“What, you don’t know that,” Sasuke argued, kicking at Menma when he made a noise of disbelief.

“Considering how shocked he looked, I bet he’s straight as an arrow.”

“Maybe he just isn’t used to seeing a copy of himself about to get dirty with one of his friends.”

“Well who would be? And we still don’t know for sure he is who he claims to be.”

“Oh come on, he was lying naked in your bed! Either he’s some crazy pervert who likes sneaking into people’s houses when they’re gone to live out some perverted fantasy, or he is actually _the_ Naruto.”

“You’re just saying that because you want to meet him again,” Menma accused, causing Sasuke to huff.

“Well duh, who wouldn’t want to meet a guy who can control the kyuubi?”

“You and your fucking power kinks,” Menma muttered to himself, and Naruto was trying his best to scream inside his mind but to no avail.

“Can you two shut up?!” he asked, refusing to admit it was more of the pleading nature.

The lights flickered on again, the other two staring at him. Well, one at his face, the other at his chest.

He snatched his t-shirt from the floor and pulled it on as well.

“So, Naruto, do you have any proof? An explanation, maybe?”

Menma looked similar to how he remembered, minus the black hair. Black pants, black arm warmers with red leather bands securing them, but no grey coat with fur collar and instead a tight tank top.

It was really odd to look at. Last time he hadn’t really had time to reflect over it, but while he was used to seeing his clones, seeing Menma was like seeing a different person altogether. Their looks might be similar, but there was just something wrong about him that instinctively told Naruto that this wasn’t one of his clones.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, glancing at Sasuke but quickly regretting it. “Sasuke and I were practicing teleportation and ended up here by accident, and now we can’t seem to get back home. Ask Tsunade or your parents if you don’t believe me.”

“Sasuke is here too?” Sasuke asked, and Naruto was starting to feel confused.

“Uh, yeah,” he said, shifting his weight between his feet and trying not to freak out too much.

“I hope he’s not a dork like you,” Sasuke told him, wrinkling his nose and most likely referring to his orange pants.

Naruto kind of wanted to laugh a little at that, considering this Sasuke’s green pants, black t-shirt underneath a purple, short-sleeved shirt, complete with the Uchiha clan symbol dangling from his neck. If anything they seemed to share their taste in purple, at least. As for personality, he sort of feared for this Sasuke’s safety.

“I’m not a dork,” he objected, but there was no real strength behind it.

“Whatever,” Menma dismissed his words with. “You’re occupying my room and we need it.”

Sasuke grinned pleasantly at him, and Naruto felt that earlier panic start to creep up on him again. He _really_ didn’t want to know.

“I’m just gonna…” he trailed off, slowly backing towards the door.

“Or you could join us,” Sasuke suggested, but Naruto chose that moment to turn and run.

He didn’t care if he had to beg Mikoto on his hands and knees, he was _not_ coming back here tonight. Bending his head down he focused on sprinting, using no chakra to aid himself despite his bare feet. This was just a bad dream caused by Kisame’s shitty teasing, and soon he’d wake up and go on with life like normal.

Sasuke’s moans haunted him the entire way to Sasuke’s house. No, that was _this world’s_ Sasuke, on the way to _his world’s_ Sasuke… There was something so incredibly wrong about the whole thing and Naruto couldn’t understand what it was. It wasn’t just the groping, or the grinning, or even the stuff they’d talked about.

But it was definitely _something_.

When Naruto reached the correct house, panting but not so much from exertion as from that sense of wrongness, he found to his luck that Sasuke’s bedroom window was unlocked. He quickly entered, closing it quietly behind him, pausing with his hands gripping the handle to stare at Sasuke’s sleeping form.

Then it struck him.

That other Sasuke, he sure looked like Sasuke, maybe didn’t act exactly like Sasuke, but logically Naruto knew that it was Sasuke but in another version, with another past. Hell, he’d met him before, even.

But he lacked Sasuke’s presence.

The Sasuke in front of him, Naruto could feel a steady pulse emanating from him; like a beat that only he, Naruto, could feel. And he knew that Sasuke could feel a similar beat from _him._ It was their bond, an inescapable side effect of the sage’s chakra split between them, of Ashura and Indra’s bond, affecting their own chakra so that it always tracked the other. He always knew where Sasuke was, and whether or not he was running out of life force. It wasn’t something they’d tested out much, but it seemed that for the most part, just general mood swings didn’t affect the connection.

So the other Sasuke felt, to him, like a dead one.

He shuddered, trying to get rid of the unease that still gripped him. Walking over to the bed, he brushed off his soles against his pants, knowing how much Sasuke hated dirt if it could be avoided. His feet would probably be judged too dirty anyway but he really couldn’t care less at the moment. So he climbed onto the bed, sitting next to Sasuke’s hip and hugging his knees to his chest. Leaning his chin on the top of his knees, he took a few minutes to simply calm down. Sasuke’s presence was always soothing to him.

Sometimes he wondered what it felt like on Sasuke’s end. Did Indra’s chakra cause him trouble? Sasuke hadn’t tried to kill him during the war, and Naruto had never asked why. He didn’t want Sasuke to say something about a whim again. Of course, both of them had come out of the sage’s company a little changed. Not that Naruto _felt_ like he’d changed, but he must have changed at least a bit.

The only thing that never seemed to change was his bond with Sasuke.

 _“You mean your complete dependence on him,”_ Kurama corrected, and this time Naruto couldn’t be bothered to deny it.

 _“Fine,”_ he replied through his thoughts. “ _I need him, a lot. What’s so wrong about that?”_

“ _Maybe you should try living for your own sake sometimes, too, and not just tell him to do that instead.”_

Naruto frowned, contemplating Sasuke’s face in the darkness. If he thought he wanted to lie down and curl up in Sasuke’s arms, then he’d blame it on sleep deprivation and hunger.

“ _I totally live for my own sake. I’m gonna be Hokage, aren’t I?”_

 _“Right,”_ Kurama drawled, and Naruto could feel the mental roll of eyes he did. “ _What a selfish thing that is, too. I think we both know you wouldn’t care less about the title if you didn’t think it was the best way to make things right for Sasuke’s sake.”_

“And why the fuck is that so wrong, huh?!”

He hadn’t realized he was yelling until he noticed Sasuke stirring.

“ _I didn’t say it was wrong,_ ” Kurama told him. “ _But your bullshit excuses are annoying me.”_

“Shut up, moron.”

Gritting his teeth, Naruto ignored Kurama’s words in favor of Sasuke waking up.

“Told you I’d come back,” he said, fake cheer in his voice.

“You know talking to yourself is considered weird, right?” Sasuke told him, the sheets rustling as he sat up, voice slightly groggy.

“I was talking to Kurama.”

“I’d say talking to a chakra beast living inside of you is a bit strange, too,” Sasuke pointed out, but he sounded about as cheerful as Naruto felt.

“Whatever,” Naruto muttered, closing his eyes and wishing he was still happily asleep.

For a few seconds they both stayed silent, the atmosphere rather heavy. It made Naruto wonder if something had happened to Sasuke as well. But when he opened his mouth to ask, Sasuke’s hand stretched out and grabbed a fistful of his hair, pulling him so that he laid down instead with his head on a pillow.

“What the hell?” he grumbled, untangling his legs and pushing down the covers so he could fit underneath them.

It was already warm from Sasuke’s body heat, and he let out a heavy sigh. Sasuke’s fingers had slowly released their grip, and when he settled down to sleep again, Naruto turned on his side to face him. He wanted to tell him about Menma and the other Sasuke showing up, but he also wanted nothing more than to simply let himself be lulled to sleep. He buried his face in the pillow, inhaling Sasuke’s scent and curling in on himself. His knees brushed Sasuke’s leg, and he let them stay there, just barely connected. When he sighed again, Sasuke’s leg bumped against him.

He thought Sasuke might say something, like telling him to stop being stupid and just go to sleep, but he didn’t. All he did was shift a little, and turn his head so they were face to face.

Naruto fell asleep with another sigh, this time through his nose, and a faint smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're not crying too much, haha. Kurama really feels like the voice of reason in this, to me. I actually accidentally spelled him as Kuramama and I think it suits him well.
> 
> That said, this story is pretty heavy, and it will continue to be so. But, to me, this story is also a way for me to deal with that shit in the canon ending, which I probably have mentioned before, so it's all leading up to something nice. I got a review a while back asking for some more action soon, but I want you to know that this story could possibly stretch into 50 chapters, so if you think it's slow, it's because we have a lot left to get through. So much to plan, so little time....
> 
> I hope you all had a nice holidays! I'm currently living in winter wonderland and it's very nice. If only we weren't studying taxation law at the moment...


	15. Losing control part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Sasuke (and possibly Naruto) is acting a little bit out of character in this chapter, but there's a good reason and you will come to understand why later. That said, a lot of things happen in this chapter, and it's longer than usual. Also, I recently changed the plot 180 degrees so, hopefully you will like it because I sure do. We'll get more Menma and Charasuke next chapter:) To those of you who read the preview on tumblr, sorry it took so long to actually finish the chapter, heh. 
> 
> Anyway, here you go!

When Obito knocked on the door to the Namikaze household, he wasn’t expecting Menma to open it.

“What do you want?” the teenager asked, barely covering a yawn and looking far from happy at being woken up this early.

“Something tells me I should have already known you were here. Didn’t hand in your mission report yet?”

Menma glared at him, shrugging as he leaned against the doorframe.

“We came back pretty late.”

“And Naruto?”

Menma shrugged again, causing Obito’s smile to strain a little more.

“Why don’t you get dressed and head over to the Hokage tower with it right away, then? Tsunade will be overjoyed to know that not only did you skip reporting in as you arrived, you also clearly met Naruto and didn’t bother to find out what’s going on.”

Menma looked less indifferent now, shoulders tensing slightly.

“He said he was here by accident,” he argued, and Obito raised a non-impressed eyebrow.

“You’ve got five minutes to get dressed, and that’s pretty generous,” was all he said, sending a pointed look in the direction of Menma’s wrinkly boxers.

“Oh get over yourself, Uchiha. You’re not the Hokage,” Menma told him, but did turn around to, hopefully, get dressed.

“You’ll regret saying that,” Obito mumbled, but refrained from giving in to his urges to grab the boy and simply dump him in front of Tsunade. “Where are your parents?” he asked instead.

“Mission,” Menma grunted over his shoulder, stopping in his tracks when he turned his head again to see Sasuke appear by the end of the hallway.

When Sasuke noticed Obito he quickly stepped out of sight again, but when Obito sternly called his name he reluctantly reappeared.

“Hey,” he pouted, hovering in the distance until Obito beckoned for him to come closer.

“Any particular reason you’re waking up in Menma’s house?”

Sasuke crossed his arms, lips thinned. Obito wondered if he was aware of the multitude of hickeys and other interesting marks covering most of his neck and chest.

“It’s none of your business,” Sasuke mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

Sending another pointed look towards Menma to get him moving, Obito decided to take pity on his relative.

“Come here,” he sighed, his hand glowing a faint green as he slowly moved it over the marks covering Sasuke. “Your mother will throw a fit if she sees you like this.”

The younger Uchiha was gritting his teeth, cheeks reddened as he glared at a wall.

“I could have worn a shirt to cover them.”

“Or you could tell that boyfriend of yours to be a little more careful.”

“Not my boyfriend,” Sasuke disagreed, glaring at him when his hand moved from his neck to down his chest. “And you really don’t need to do that.”

“On the contrary, now I really want to. I haven’t seen you in a year, and I come home to you letting that Namikaze boy get you in trouble? What happened to all those nice girls you were chasing?”

“They’re still around. And I’m not in trouble.”

Obito closed his eyes for a second, wondering to himself why the younger Uchiha generation had to be so troublesome.

“If you’re not in trouble yet, that smart tone of yours will make sure you end up in it anyway. Get dressed, you’re wanted at the Hokage tower as well.”

 _He_ never acted like this as a teenager, did he?

About five minutes later he sent the two reluctant boys in the right direction, then quickly made his way to Sasuke’s house. Most likely, Naruto would be there as well. He couldn’t blame him for leaving – listening to yourself having sex with your friend’s alter ego would be traumatizing for anyone.

 He found Fugaku out on the front steps, a cup of tea in hand as he waited for him.

“Aren’t you usually at the station around this time?” Obito asked, following him inside.

“They’ll survive an hour without me. No Naruto?”

“I’m taking a wild guess he’s with Sasuke. Besides, your son came back last night.”

“Really?” Fugaku was frowning as they ascended the stairs. “Then were has he been?”

“Menma’s place.”

Obito was discrete enough not to mention exactly why.

“That kid’s always doing whatever he wants,” Fugaku sighed, pausing outside Sasuke’s room. “They didn’t give Naruto any trouble, did they?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

Fugaku placed his hand on the door handle, but paused again. There was a troubled look on his face as he regarded Obito for a few seconds in silence.

“Obito… you won’t go too hard on them, will you? They both seem a bit… emotionally _unstable_.”

“We’ll see,” was all he could promise, even though he silently agreed with Fugaku.

“Sasuke still hasn’t said anything about his past or his circumstances in their world. I can’t help but feel that-“

“Fugaku,” Obito gently interrupted him with, pushing the door open. “Naruto and Sasuke have probably been through more than we can even imagine. You’ll need to be patient. It’ll be your and Mikoto’s job to make sure he’s alright, and my job to make sure we figure out what’s going on.”

Fugaku didn’t look particularly pleased to hear this, but Obito ignored him in favor of observing the two young ninja on the bed. They looked as if they’d huddled close, face to face, alone in a strange and frightening world.

“I don’t _want_ to upset them,” he said quietly as the boys stirred. “But we need answers.”

“I know,” Fugaku sighed, a frown on his reliable face. “But like I tried telling you earlier, I can’t help but feel they don’t deserve any of the things that must have happened to them.”

As Naruto blinked bleary eyes at them, unconsciously reaching a hand out across the mattress towards a blank-faced Sasuke, Obito wondered if he really wanted to know.

xxx

Once Naruto and Sasuke had woken up and gotten some breakfast in their stomachs –Mikoto’s orders– Obito led them to the Hokage tower. He didn’t talk along the way, considering you never know who’s listening, and he thought they’d been lax enough already by allowing them to run freely through the village. His company didn’t seem eager to talk either, Sasuke with a closed off expression, and Naruto mostly yawning.

Reaching the building he quickly showed them inside, taking them down a couple of floors until they reached a restricted area. He produced the document showing he had permission to enter, noticing how Naruto was looking increasingly nervous.

“We’re only down here to make sure no one overhears,” he reassured him, walking through the dimly lit corridor at a brisk pace.

“About time,” Sasuke muttered, and Obito sent him a quick smile.

“In here.”

It was a regular-looking room, only containing a plain table and a few chairs surrounding it. The walls were covered in wooden panels, the lights over their heads bright but spreading a soothing yellow through the small space. It was a room meant for discussions, not interrogations, but Obito couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t make the chairs less uncomfortable. Maybe he’d suggest it if he was elected.

“Tsunade-sama should be here in a few minutes,” he said, sitting down and giving Naruto and Sasuke an expectant look.

“Umm, okay,” Naruto replied, slouching in a seat. “Are, uh, Menma and…?”

“Oh, no, they won’t be in this meeting. Why do you ask?”

Naruto’s face flushed bright red, and he stole a glance towards Sasuke who was staring in a bored manner at Obito.

“No reason,” Naruto mumbled, crossing his arms and gazing around the room instead.

“They didn’t bother you last night, did they?”

His question made Sasuke turn sharply to the right, eyes narrowing as Naruto frantically shook his head.

“Well, you’ll meet them soon again, I’m sure.”

“Can’t wait,” Sasuke said in a monotone voice, causing Naruto to wince.

A minute or two passed in tense silence before the door opened to reveal Tsunade, Shizune, and Nawaki. He had to admit it was a little strange that he was allowed to attend, but decided not to question it.

“So, Naruto, Sasuke, let’s have a little talk, shall we?” Tsunade started, placing herself opposite of Naruto with her hands clasped in front of her on the tabletop.

Naruto, however, was staring at Nawaki.

“Your necklace…” he trailed off, biting his lips.

Obito looked at it just like everyone else in the room, the bright green jewel that originally belonged to the first Hokage glimmering discreetly in the light.

“Yes?” Nawaki replied, curiosity in his eyes.

“No, I just… are you baa-chan’s little brother?”

Nawaki looked like he found it difficult not to laugh at Naruto’s choice of words, and Obito had to wonder what made Naruto refer to Tsunade as such. Clearly he must have never faced her cold fury.

“Correct, I’m Nawaki. Why don’t we start right off? How come you mentioned my necklace?”

But Naruto’s lips closed tightly, even as he kept staring at the necklace.

“Maybe Sasuke can explain?” Shizune suggested, but the young Uchiha only shrugged.

If that meant he didn’t know the answer, or didn’t want to tell, was impossible to determine.

“Alright,” Tsunade sighed, “Let’s establish some things first. We have no idea how dangerous this situation is, or what the reason that you’re here means, but we’ve decided to treat this as a serious threat. Which means,” she paused, eyeing the two boys with fierceness, “that you two can choose to talk, or to be detained.”

Naruto’s lips twitched, as if the last part of her sentence was amusing somehow. He quickly caught himself however, sharing an unreadable look with Sasuke instead.

“Your choice,” Sasuke answered an unvoiced question, a thousand emotions rushing through Naruto’s eyes before settling for determination.

“I don’t mind talking,” he slowly stated, straightening up and suddenly looking much older, boring his eyes into each of them. “But we’re leaving Sasuke out of this.”

The tension spiked, the silence thick enough to cut through.

“That’s not an option I gave you,” Tsunade disagreed, but to Obito’s surprise, Naruto actually gave a roguish smile at this.

“Well, I probably outrank you, anyway.”

Now _this_ was unexpected. Sasuke seemed to be the only one unmoved by the statement, or rather, he looked like he was about to roll his eyes.

“Dobe, I don’t need protection.”

Naruto didn’t change his expression, gaze stuck on Tsunade.

“But this was _my_ choice, remember?”

“And what are you going to do if they refuse to agree? Blowing up the village is hardly in our best interest at this point.”

Naruto’s eyes seemed to darken, the air becoming thicker with his presence, and Obito felt the hairs at the base of his neck rise. If he’d ever doubted that Naruto was powerful, he certainly wouldn’t keep those doubts from now on. There was just something about the look in his eyes that told him Itachi’s voiced worries over someone trying to use either of the two to manipulate the other would work, and scarily well.

“It doesn’t matter,” Naruto said quietly, shoulders tense, but his piercing eyes glancing at Sasuke briefly. “They don’t deserve to judge you.”

No one moved, and Obito held his breath as he waited for Tsunade to respond. Sasuke had never seemed the innocent type, and it was likely he was the one they needed the back story on. Considering Naruto’s words, however, the price would be high…

“Agreed. For now.”

Tsunade’s words broke the tension and Naruto slowly relaxed into his seat again, looking more like the nervous teenager he’d appeared to be earlier.

“Alright then,” he sighed. “What do you want to know?”

xxx

The first thing Shisui noticed as he drifted awake was Itachi’s scent. The second thing was Itachi’s long hair, and the curve of his pale shoulder.

He raised the arm thrown around Itachi’s body to trace circles on his skin, his touch light and teasing, and not long after he could feel the other man stir and bury his face deeper into the pillow.

“Good morning,” he murmured, pressing his nose into Itachi’s neck, fingers gently squeezing Itachi’s shoulder.

“For once, I actually believe it is.”

Itachi’s voice was raspy with sleep, and yet it was the most beautiful sound in the world to him. The past year had been much too long, and much too lonesome. Did he dare to think that things were fine from now on?

“Slept well?”

Itachi hummed, curling in on himself but taking hold of Shisui’s hand to wrap it around his chest again.

“I always sleep better with you.”

Shisui released an explosive breath, hugging Itachi tight. As carefree as he tried to be, Itachi could so easily affect his emotions. It had always been like that, and surely it always would.

He kissed the base of his neck, continuing up along his shoulder, nuzzling soft skin over hard muscle and trying his best to get rid of the unease that told him this was just another wishful dream.

“Did I tire you out last night?” he teased anyway, laughing quietly when he received a smack on his arm.

“Hardly.” Itachi’s voice sounded less sleepy now, and he sat up with graceful movements to look down at Shisui. “I wonder if Sasuke’s alright, though.”

Shisui was distracted by Itachi’s hair falling loose over his chest and arm, his head tilted slightly towards him. He let his fingers travel up his arm, slowly, admiring every little hair, every little birthmark. When he reached his shoulder he diverted his path and brushed the tips of his fingers over Itachi’s collarbone, contemplating getting up to use his mouth instead.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Itachi reminded him, leaning his weight on one arm, and intertwining his free hand with Shisui’s as it paused on its way down his chest.

“I don’t know what to answer,” he admitted, meeting Itachi’s dark eyes, framed by even darker lashes. “He seemed both upset and, _relieved,_ somehow.”

Itachi lifted his hand to his lips, kissing his fingers lovingly, sending rushes of warmth through Shisui’s chest.

“Maybe he thought of his brother,” he continued, narrowing his eyes slightly when Itachi delivered a tiny little bite to one finger. “Maybe he wishes he was still alive.”

Last night, after they had realized that Sasuke was listening, they had followed him into the garden. They’d caught up to him by the pond, where he stood in a rigid pose, staring unseeingly in front of him. He hadn’t acknowledged their existence for a long time, and Shisui had just been about to tug Itachi back towards the house, when he’d turned towards them.

“Or maybe he lost his love,” Itachi whispered, pressing his face into Shisui’s palm. “And now he’s trying to find it again.”

There had been such raw, desperate yearning in Sasuke’s eyes, and Shisui swallowed hard at the eerie similarity they held with the dark ones he currently gazed into. Hoisting himself up, he cupped Itachi’s face to brush their lips together, warm breaths mingling, hoping he didn’t look as vulnerable as he felt. He had dreamt during the night, none of it good, with Sasuke’s words ringing through his ears like the chiming of heavy bells.

_“I wish he would smile like that again.”_

xxx

Sasuke was tired. He listened with half an ear to Naruto recounting large chunks of his life, having heard it all before. There were parts that Naruto had told him, and parts that he’d been told without asking. A surprising amount of people seemed to enjoy trying to guilt trip him because of what he’d done to Naruto, and the village.

Well, the joke was on them because none of them could ever make him feel as bad as he did himself.

Currently he still suffered from a mild headache knocking at his eyes from the inside, which wasn’t helped by his tiredness. He guessed that his body was still dealing with the aftermath of what had transpired yesterday, and Naruto seemed tired as well. Still, his mouth kept going, recounting everything but skillfully leaving the parts starring Sasuke out of the story. Sometimes he wondered just how much Naruto had ever told the others about what they’d been through together…

He took a steadying breath, trying to gather his thoughts and send them into less upsetting territories. Last night had left his emotions in turmoil, and he still wasn’t sure why he’d reacted so strongly. All he knew was that his control had slipped, and he’d shown Itachi and Shisui a vulnerable side he had never intended for.

Naruto was now telling his audience about Pein’s attack, and the whole back story on Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan. He glanced at the blond ninja, feeling his chakra _squirm_ , aware of how little Naruto enjoyed talking about this part of his life. Sasuke had never met Jiraiya, but he wasn’t stupid. The toad sage had been an important part of Naruto’s life, and to Sasuke it was obvious that he was struggling with telling them about his death and the destruction of Konoha. He felt a pang of regret and clenched his fists harshly around the seat of the chair.

Ever since yesterday, he’d been unable to push down and ignore certain emotions. They would flood him unexpectedly, disappearing as quickly as they came, leaving him to feel drained for a couple of minutes.

It bothered him.

Usually, it would take a _lot_ before he slipped up, but these bursts of emotion didn’t feel like slipping. It felt more like… walking on a smooth, flat surface and suddenly there was a hole in the ground that his foot got stuck in, causing him to fall uncontrollably forwards and land on his face.

It was uncomfortable to stand up afterwards and act like nothing happened.

He wouldn’t have minded some more time to recover, and he wondered if Naruto had the same problem. Even so he wasn’t about to voice his concerns to the other people in the room. No one had seemed to notice how Naruto’s explanation earlier had shut down his brain for a moment. He’d felt as if the words pierced him, burrowing deep inside his chest, and now they rested there as if waiting for the moment to strike him full force.

Like a delayed explosive tag.

Another steadying breath, and he tried his best to ignore the tiny throbbing that reverberated through his chest. Naruto had moved on to explain their fight against Akatsuki and the masked man, not a single word on how Sasuke had been the one to attack the Hachibi. He must have talked for nearly two hours by now. Hopefully they wouldn’t be stuck here the whole day, because Sasuke found the atmosphere suffocating. He didn’t want to think about the past, and when Naruto didn’t even mention Itachi as a member of Akatsuki, he stared down at his lap and almost wanted to laugh.

Naruto might be doing this to protect him from painful memories, but it wasn’t that much different from what the council tried to do at home. Konoha was a place filled with lies, important issues hidden underneath pretty words and ninja rules.

‘The will of fire.’

He almost snorted to himself. Fire was the trademark Uchiha affinity, and no Hokage had been favoring it. Yet, here, Itachi was taking part in elections…  So many other things had been occupying his mind that he hadn’t found the time to ponder this. Though, Naruto was the only person he could think of that embodied the will of fire from tip to toe. Either way, once Naruto was done talking, there were things he wanted to know.

“So, you’re saying that you _actually_ fought all of the bijuu plus Obito, and _defeated_ _them_?”

Naruto nodded, and Tsunade frowned deeply at him. Not surprising in Sasuke’s opinion. Who wants to find out that a person you don’t know if you need to fight against has managed to defeat multiple chakra beasts?

“Last time when you fought Menma, the both of you made the Kyuubi gain physical form. Can you do that whenever you want?”

“Well, unless Kurama doesn’t feel like it.”

“Kurama?”

“Yeah, that’s his name. They’ve all got names, actually. Pretty hard to learn but they’re cool names in my opinion.”

Tsunade hummed, pushing her glasses further up her nose. She’d been asking questions now and then, mostly asking Naruto to clarify things he brushed over. Then again, Naruto’s storytelling was jumping all over the place, and he often backtracked to add things he’d forgotten. Tsunade kept her professional attitude, but Nawaki often made impressed faces, and Shizune looked positively awed. Obito on the other hand looked thoughtful, often glancing at Sasuke, probably coming to his own conclusions about the plot holes in Naruto’s recap.

It was when Naruto told them about how Kaguya showed up through black Zetsu and the history behind her, that Nawaki decided to speak.

“Can I just see if I understood the whole thing?” When Naruto nodded, most likely glad for a small break, Nawaki clasped his hands in front of him. “So, Kaguya ate the chakra fruit and then the power got to her head, which forced her sons to seal her. Then Hagoromo, the older son, chose Ashura as his successor instead of Indra, which caused a rift between them that has continued on until you and Sasuke were born as their reincarnations…?”

“Pretty much,” Naruto agreed.

“I see,” Nawaki mused, and a couple of seconds later, a light went off for Naruto.

“Hold on, you mean things are different here?”

“Well,” Nawaki started with an amused twitch of his lips, “It seemed to me as if everything was different between our worlds. But yes, the story of Kaguya is nothing like what you described.”

“Tell us,” Sasuke demanded, earning a few surprised looks.

“Hmm, alright. You should ask Sarutobi if you want the full, detailed story, but I’ll give you the shortened version I tell the kids.” Nawaki paused to gather his thoughts, and Sasuke shared a look with Naruto, wondering just how different it could be.

“You see, Kaguya was a simple woman from a simple family, who refused to marry the man her parents had chosen for her. So, she ran away. Along the way, it is believed that she heard about the God Tree, and the chakra fruit. This was during an era filled with poverty and famine, and many poor humans were sold as slaves by those who were rich. Women didn’t have the right to their own bodies, and Kaguya, being tired of it all, wanted to change things. She found the fruit, ate it, and became powerful enough to turn things around and affect people’s hearts.”

“What, she just made everyone become good people?” Naruto asked, eyes wide in surprise.

“It wasn’t that simple, but when you’re starving and someone can make rain fall, plants grow, and heal your sick family, it’s not so strange to want to follow that person and listen to them. Those who followed her, she shared her chakra with, and the others she drove away. For several hundred years things were shaky and hostile, which was what caused ninja to come into existence. However, a true ninja does not live and learn to fight in order to kill and conquer, but so that they can protect the people and ensure peace. Oh, and in order to spread peace to those who lack it, as well.”

Sasuke slowly blinked, trying to process the information. It felt as if his head was reeling, and Naruto didn’t look much better. The throbbing inside his chest was intensifying, the ache behind his eyes increasing. He tried to ignore the feeling, irritation rushing through him unchecked and doing nothing to help.

“Sasuke, are you alright?”

It was Shizune who watched him in concern, and he found it was all but impossible to unclench his jaw to reply. So he nodded, forcing his shoulders to relax. It took a lot of effort, but he refused to let it show.

“Still,” Nawaki continued, “the villages weren’t shaped until maybe a century ago. The separate clans thought they were doing well on their own, but the amount of trained ninja was decreasing, and the daimyos thought a system was needed in order to make sure the tradition lived on. It’s still decreasing, really.”

“Well, we can discuss our own problems later,” Tsunade interrupted him with. “We don’t have all day, so please continue with the story, Naruto.”

Sasuke was about to object, but something held him back, and instead he balled his fists in frustration. He tried to tune out Naruto as he talked, not interested in reliving that particular day. It was becoming more and more difficult to simply sit still and listen. Impatience bubbled inside of him, causing his legs to twitch when he wouldn’t let them restlessly bob. He was a ninja, this should be a piece of cake for him, but it felt as if Naruto was talking too slowly, and he stared at him as if it would make him hurry up.

Once Naruto got to the part where everyone was put in the infinite tsukuyomi, however, Sasuke’s entire body seemed to freeze. He had managed to dismiss the memories of his talk with the Sage, only feeling vaguely guilty for his past convictions. Now, however, it was impossible to stop his mind from providing him with flashing pictures, little snippets of what happened during the fight dancing in front of his eyes as Naruto’s voice called them forth. He could clearly see every expression Naruto had worn on his battle worn face, every meaningful look sent Sasuke’s way, every tiny infliction to his voice when responding to Sasuke’s actions.

He felt feverish, his eyes aching, nails digging into his palms. As Naruto built up to the finishing blow that had sealed Kaguya, Sasuke felt his nerves tingling as if charged with chakra, his breathing becoming quicker. Naruto had snuck worried glances at him for several minutes, but whenever someone prepared to voice their concerns he waved them off.

“…and Sakura charged from above her, punching her while Sasuke and I came from the sides, and we managed to trap her so that the Sage could do his thing and seal her. And uh, yeah, that was basically it I guess. We went back to our dimension and everyone woke up…”

He could remember it so clearly. The exhaustion, Naruto’s farewell to his father, Madara’s final words…

The Sage asking him about his convictions.

He hadn’t known what to say, much less what he wanted to do. He’d lost the urge to take revenge, had lost the voice in the back of his head that whispered to him that fighting was the only answer, that hatred was the only way to bring people together. What if there was another way to go about things? What if he could come to terms with his past and Itachi’s sacrifice without following Indra’s suggestions? He’d beaten him, after all, and now all he had left was his own, confused and broken voice. It was possible that there was another way to change things…

He had turned to Naruto, then. His best friend had already been watching him silently, and when their eyes met, something seemed to _click_. Something vast, something so enormous that Sasuke had staggered underneath its weight.

Everyone else had disappeared, lost in the background as Naruto walked over to him. He had lifted his right hand, smudged with blood and dirt, while trapping Sasuke in his gaze.

Sasuke had trembled, then, had crumbled underneath Naruto’s touch as his fingers caressed his cheek, had swallowed with a sandpaper dry throat before lifting his left hand to loosely curl it around Naruto’s wrist.

In present time, Sasuke had stood up, heart pounding and ears ringing.

“Sasuke?”

One look at Naruto’s concerned face, and he was out the door before he could even reflect on what he was doing. The guards on the other side startled, but he stopped only a few steps ahead of them, lungs burning as if he’d been running for days.

He pressed the heels of his palms against his clenched shut eyes, fumbling for some semblance of control as his body seemed to shiver with suppressed emotions.

“Sasuke, what’s going on?”

Naruto, of course, followed him outside, but he found it difficult to separate him from the Naruto of a year ago as he grabbed his hands and forced Sasuke to look at him.

“You look sick.”

Naruto’s face was scrunched up with worry, his fingers clasping Sasuke’s gently. The touch felt too warm, yet soothing for the chaos in his head.

“I don’t know,” he forced out, closing his eyes again and forcing himself to calm his breathing, wondering why the hell his ninja techniques weren’t working to steel his emotions.

Then he felt Naruto’s touch growing hotter, chakra seeping from Naruto’s hands into his own. The effect was immediate. His shivers disappeared, the cold sweat that had formed on his forehead dissipating, his limbs relaxing as he released a shuddering sigh.

It wasn’t the first time that Naruto had done this, but it was definitely the first time it didn’t happen in the middle of the night after a nightmare. He’d stayed in Naruto’s apartment for almost two months after coming back, and Naruto had woken up to find him almost in panic after certain dreams had plagued his mind. The dreams had decreased in number, as if injections with Naruto’s chakra lasted longer and longer, like some kind of medicine.

But this time had felt different.

“Better?” Naruto asked him quietly, and Sasuke realized that they had an audience.

“Yes, just the memories,” he muttered back, sorting through his still confused brain.

Naruto smiled at him, and Sasuke sucked in a sharp breath, though his body remained calm. It was only a faint, relieved one, but Sasuke found it captivating all the same.

But it had nothing on the smile that he had received that time, after the battle had finished and Naruto stood in front of him, patiently waiting for his reply.

 _“I guess I’ll go with you for now,”_ he’d said, and Naruto…

Naruto’s smile had blinded him.

xxx

A few minutes later they were back in the meeting room, left alone for the time being. Sasuke had slumped down in a chair, Naruto moving one for himself so that they were practically face to face, knees bumping. If Naruto hadn’t taken hold of his hands again, he would have considered placing them on the table to sleep on. As it was, he was too tired to care that Naruto was showing his concern so obviously.

No, tired was the wrong word. He didn’t feel like he needed to sleep, but rather that he needed all these emotions to disappear. They were exhausting him.

“Sasuke, what’s going on? You’ve never reacted like this before.”

Naruto’s expression was too open, too worried, and Sasuke had to close his eyes simply so he didn’t need to see it. Yes, Naruto’s chakra had calmed him down, but he had a feeling it was only a temporary relief.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, because he honestly had no idea what was happening to him.

“Do you need more chakra?”

He shook his head, and heard Naruto let out a small sigh. It was good that Naruto decided not to ask any more questions, because Sasuke needed the break they’d been given to collect himself. Naruto’s thumbs rubbed little circles over his hands, and for once he didn’t mind the contact. His body did feel a little warmer, but it was dampened by Naruto’s chakra swirling through his system. The first times it had felt strange, not in a bad way but still, _strange_. Now, it just felt like Naruto himself; partly annoying, partly extremely soothing.  

There was a knock on the door, and he could feel Naruto’s irritation through the slight twitch of his hands.

“What?” Naruto asked the person entering, and Sasuke opened his eyes to squint at Obito as he came to sit with them.

“Sorry to bother you,” he said, but didn’t seem like he would leave them anytime soon. “The others will be back in a couple of minutes, but I thought I’d come see if you have any questions. Specifically, if Sasuke has any.”

Obito was giving him a serious look that caused a faint, uncomfortable twist in his stomach.

“Fugaku mentioned you haven’t discussed the Sharingan and so on yet, and considering what happened yesterday, I thought it might be good to know the differences.”

A little more chakra seeped from Naruto into his hands, perhaps in a subconscious gesture, and Sasuke swallowed against his dry throat.

“What do you want to know?”

Obito gave him a small smile, leaning his forearms on the table.

“I can start talking, if you want. You seemed curious about our history.”

He nodded, slowly, ignoring Naruto’s frown.

“Well then. It seems we have in common that the Sharingan is a double-edged sword, that only a handful of clan members can awaken. It’s a great power, but it will eventually turn you blind depending on how much you use it. And, of course, the conditions for developing it…”

Sasuke held his breath.

“The Sharingan has been passed down in generations ever since Indra developed it as a less dangerous version of the Rinnegan. It is said that back then, you could attain it through practicing, the way you would learn, say, genjutsu. It’s become much rarer since then, and the fact that first Madara, then me, Itachi, and Shisui developed it is quite extraordinary.”

Naruto was fidgeting in his seat, squeezing Sasuke’s hands rather than rubbing them now.

“You see, the Sharingan is a means of protection. It’s a last resort, you could say. When someone we love is in grave danger, and we risk losing them, our brains kick start the Sharingan in order to gain the extra strength needed to defeat the enemy. It’s a selfless act, to ultimately sacrifice your eyesight in order to keep your loved ones safe.”

He felt numb. It was so similar, yet the complete opposite, that he simply didn’t know what to think of it.

“To use me as an example, I developed the Sharingan when Kakashi and I were attacked, but not until Kakashi had had his eye destroyed and I was prepared to give my life to protect him, as an important friend and teammate. A couple of years later, my other teammate was kidnapped by some exiled Konoha ninjas and had the Sanbi sealed within her in order to attack the village. Kakashi was with her but he was defeated and barely survived. Then, when the Sanbi broke loose, I achieved the Mangekyo in order to control it.”

“Was she okay?” Naruto asked, and Obito sent him a sad smile.

“No, unfortunately she died. It’s something Kakashi and I will always have to live with.”

An uncomfortable silence fell in the room, not broken until Obito cleared his throat again. Sasuke could tell that Naruto had spent the silence thinking about the Obito of their dimension, where Rin’s death had been a mere means to an end for Madara.

“Anyway, Tsunade has found a way to postpone the blindness, but not forever. But you, Sasuke, said that your eyesight wasn’t supposed to deteriorate. How come?”

Sasuke stared at the dark, polished wood of the tabletop, wondering if he should reply. _How_ he should reply. His mind was still whirring with the explanation that Obito had given, Itachi’s face hovering along the edges of his vision. It was probably good that Naruto pumped even more of his chakra into him.

“What about the Rinnegan?” he asked instead, staring at Obito, who looked thoughtful for a moment.

“It has rarely ever happened. There are a few stories but…” he paused to seemingly collect his thoughts. “Madara also got his from the Sage. However, both he and Hashirama lost those powers afterwards, meaning they could only use them during that fight. But Madara gained it for a second time, though shortly afterwards he… well, he lost his mind. It was a very tragic end for a great man.”

Frowning deeply, Sasuke tried to read Obito’s expression. What did he mean by losing his mind?

“So, the theory is that the Rinnegan is too powerful to be used without direct influence of the Sage of the Six Paths. It’s too much for the brain to handle, which is probably why Indra decided to create the Sharingan.”

“Okay but, why did Hashirama and Madara fight each other? I thought you said there wasn’t any bad blood between Indra and Ashura.”

Obito blinked at Naruto, then raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Of course they didn’t fight _each other_. For some reason, the bijuu had gathered to attack us ninjas. They were originally intelligent and peaceful, but they’ve gradually become mindless chakra entities, which is why they’re all sealed within humans nowadays. But they weren’t at the time that Madara and Hashirama were young, and so they received Indra’s and Ashura’s powers in order to control them and protect everyone.”

Naruto was gaping, and Sasuke was, yet again, unsure of how he felt. He knew that Naruto had been fighting to close the gap between them that had been created by Indra’s presence, and he himself still struggled with remnants of it. Yes, Naruto was his best friend, but he was also someone he had tried desperately to cut out of his life.

“The two of them were chosen because of their relations to the Uchiha and Senju clans, and because they were already close friends. Indra and Ashura are said to have been inseparable, and, well…” Obito looked slightly embarrassed, letting out a frustrated sigh. “It’s said that their closeness is what caused the tradition of so much inter-marriage within the clans. Sure, it’s also because of a need to keep the respective abilities intact, but I wonder…”

The last part he mostly mumbled to himself, looking concerned, and Sasuke realized that he must be talking about Itachi and Shisui. Perhaps Madara and Hashirama as well, even though they were from different clans. There would be no point for relationships between two men if it was in order to make sure the clan prospered, rather the opposite.

“Huh, inter what now?”

Naruto looked confused, and Sasuke supposed he couldn’t be blamed for it. He’d never belonged to a clan. To Sasuke, it was an obvious strategy, and his whole clan had been full of closely related couples. The Hyuuga, too, as well as many other clans. If Sasuke’s family had lived, he was sure that once he’d become an adult, he’d be expected to reproduce with a suitable relative.

“It’s when you marry relatives to make sure the clan’s bloodline limit stays strong,” he replied in Obito’s stead, Naruto blinking rapidly at him, his face paling as it dawned on him.

“ _What_ ,” he spluttered, looking between them.

“Of course, you can’t _only_ marry relatives, because the clan would die out,” Obito added. “Especially now it’s a problem, because the clans are growing smaller. But Orochimaru and Tsunade have been working on a process to make sure the correct genes will be passed on, to get rid of arranged marriages, too.”

Naruto still looked shocked, but Sasuke couldn’t find it in himself to care. He had long since accepted that his clan would die out with him, and he wasn’t eager to produce children, either.

“This is the reason that same sex couples are being frowned upon lately, unless they take responsibility, so to say, and reproduce.”

“Okay but, this is so weird. This doesn’t happen at home.” He looked at Sasuke, who merely raised an eyebrow tiredly at him. “Wait, you mean- but- that’s just-“

Naruto seemed to struggle with coming to terms with the whole concept, and Sasuke had to sigh at his naivety.

“It doesn’t matter, dobe, just leave it.”

“But they were _brothers_!”

“It’s only a rumor,” Obito said apologetically. “I probably shouldn’t have brought it up if it made you uncomfortable.”

Naruto was definitely wild-eyed at this point, squeezing Sasuke’s hands hard until he seemed to realize what exactly he was doing and promptly let go.

“You’re overreacting,” Sasuke told him, but Naruto crossed his arms and glared at him.

“Well you’re _under-_ reacting!” he exclaimed, causing Sasuke to sigh through his nose and rub one cheek.

The door opened, and Tsunade walked inside, followed by the other two.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked Sasuke, who nodded in confirmation. “Good, let’s continue, then.”

He glanced at Naruto, who was now muttering things under his breath, looking mildly disturbed. It looked like he would need to suffer through a long rant once the meeting was over.


	16. Losing control part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why didn't anyone tell me it's been two months since I last updated this. I'm terrible and I have too many other things to write and too many things to do other than writing and well, I have no idea when I'll have time to update this again. I'm very sorry but there are more fics than this and more to life than writing (sadly). I hope you can be patient. I promise to write lots and lots during summer.
> 
> Special thanks to evakaname for helping me out with this chapter, I'm still not sure it's good but you can be the judge of that. And well, I'll apologize for the cliffhanger right now so no one needs to be surprised.

“Does she always have to nag so much? It’s not like she would have read through the report last night anyway.”

Sasuke shoved his hands down the pockets of his loose pants, pouting slightly when Menma only shrugged in response.

“Well _you’re_ in a good mood today,” he remarked, raising an eyebrow in turn when Menma sent an annoyed look his way. “At least we’ve got the day off.”

“Didn’t you listen? We have to see Naruto and Sasuke and _apologize_.”  The last word was said with contempt, as Menma rubbed his face tiredly. “Honestly I’d rather go on another boring mission.”

“Are you really that upset about what happened last time? I mean, shouldn’t you be kinda grateful towards him, without his help we’d all be pretty much dead.”

Menma only produced a dismissive noise.

“Tch, you’re so childish. I get it’s embarrassing to have been tricked and used like that for evil stuff but…”

“Did you actually want something or are you just going to annoy me?”

Sasuke shrugged, then winked at a couple cute girls who walked by. Maybe he should ditch Menma and get laid instead, he was starting to feel irritable just being in his presence.

“I wanted to get some training done, but if you’re too distraught…”

“Why, you don’t even help out in fights, so what’s the point?”

Stopping dead in his tracks, Sasuke glared at Menma’s back. So what if he’d avoided the one fight that occurred during the mission, that occasion had been Menma picking a fight with a local gang and not part of the instructions.

“Having each other’s backs on a mission doesn’t mean getting each other into fights,” he muttered, but knew arguing was pointless.

“Whatever, I don’t feel like sparring without a challenge today. I think I’ll go seek out Hinata or someone.”

Ignoring the uneasy feeling in his stomach at hearing that, Sasuke scoffed and crossed his arms.

“Like I care, it was just an offer but sure, I’ve got better things to do anyway.”

Then he promptly turned on his heels and walked back in the direction they came from, despite not being where he was headed at all. Not that he’d decided what to do, but he certainly wasn’t going to put up with Menma when he was in one of his moods. There were no calls for him to wait, or come back, and he clenched his jaw but held his head high.

In the end he went home, finding Shisui lounging in the living room.

“What are _you_ doing here?” he asked, slumping down next to him.

“Wow, what a friendly greeting. I can just feel the love here.”

Instead of replying, Sasuke only sank lower in his seat, staring glumly at the TV screen where a ninja cooking show was in full throttle. Currently it seemed like they had to complete a dangerous maze filled with traps before the rice got overcooked.

“Itachi’s back too.”

He perked up a little at hearing that, sending a questioning – and decidedly more friendly – look towards his cousin.

“Well, you know with the elections coming up fairly soon, and the whole thing with Naruto and the other Sasuke arriving…”

Sasuke snorted. The _other_ Sasuke. It was such a weird feeling to hear it said like that.

“What’s he like, anyway?”

“Nothing like you, that’s for sure,” Shisui chuckled, but quickly stopped when Sasuke glared at him. “Alright maybe he’s a little bit similar. I haven’t really met him so, you’ll have to ask Itachi.”

Deciding to wait for his brother to show up, Sasuke tried to focus on the show as he waited. He had to admit he didn’t know what to think about the whole deal. Meeting Naruto again, now that was interesting because he knew that Naruto was strong and seemed like a nice, happy-go-lucky person, which had definitely thrown him off a little last time. He was much too expressive and dorky to be mistaken for Menma though, and he really wondered how they’d all been fooled. Though, who really expected some alternate reality version of someone turning up? At least this was a nice distraction from the rest of his life.

“Sasuke, it’s good to see you again.”

Rolling his eyes at his brother’s words, Sasuke tilted his head to see him as he appeared behind the couch.

“Nothing’s holding you back from visiting more often,” he accused, but it didn’t come out very threatening.

“Isn’t work a decent excuse?” Itachi replied with a vague tone to his voice. “So, I heard you stayed over at Menma’s place last night and met Naruto.”

This effectively caused Sasuke to thin his lips, and defiantly cross his arms.

“What’s it to you?” he asked, knowing that his brother knew he and Menma had something going on even though they’d never talked about it, so he’d rather play dumb.

“Well, I’m supposed to be looking after Naruto and Sasuke, so it’d be bad if you had a fight.”

“Well we didn’t.”

“Yet he ended up running over here without shoes on…”

“We were just teasing him a little. How was I supposed to know he’s a total virgin?!”

Shisui burst out laughing, and Sasuke felt his cheeks heat up a little. He didn’t think they’d been saying anything too bad, had they? To be honest he’d been really horny so he hadn’t been thinking too much about the fact that Naruto was there again. He _was_ good looking, though.

“Please try not to aggravate him in the future,” Itachi sighed, coming around to stand slightly in front of him. “Especially the other Sasuke. You should tell Menma that, too. Compared to them, you might as well be Academy kids.”

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke tried to find out if Itachi was joking or not, but found only seriousness. Were they really that strong? Naruto sure hadn’t _looked_ strong.

“Fine, I’ll be nice if he’s nice.”

“Just be nice _period_ ,” Itachi corrected him, and Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh.

“I’m not an idiot,” he said.

Menma was the one who got into unnecessary fights, anyway.

xxx

They spent another hour discussing what could possibly have caused them to teleport into this world, and Naruto had to admit he was grateful when Tsunade said their time was up – for today, at least. Most of his relief probably stemmed from the fact that Sasuke _was_ acting strange, and he was more than a little worried about it. Especially since Sasuke was the type of person who wouldn’t complain unless he really thought he was dying, and maybe not even then. Still, it was possible that he’d been reacting to the retelling Naruto had been doing like he’d said, but something just didn’t sit right with that explanation.

Glancing at Sasuke as they slowly walked from the Hokage tower, he could clearly see the annoyance expressed on his face. When he’d infused some of his chakra into Sasuke, it had been obvious that the other was a bit of a mess emotions-wise.

“What?” Sasuke muttered, not bothering to look at him.

Biting his lip, Naruto wasn’t sure what to say. Sasuke rarely liked it when he worried about him, but even Tsunade had told him that because of his reactions so soon after the whole deal with the sage powers being blocked, they both had to go through a thorough physical and psychological examination. As much as he’d try to insist they were both fine, Tsunade seemed impossible to sway. Well, maybe it wasn’t so bad to have a check-up, he just didn’t like the thought of someone poking around in his brain. He’d never had an appointment like that, and all he could think about was Ino’s mind techniques. They wouldn’t actually look into their minds, would they? Because then they’d find everything out about Sasuke and-

“Oi, I’m talking to you.”

Naruto blinked, then pouted stubbornly.

“Well I didn’t hear you,” he said, placing his arms behind his neck and trying to wave off all the worries as he stared up at the cloudy sky.

“Evidently. I asked if this was about the clan marriage thing.”

“Is what about the clan marriage thing?”

Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes for a moment as if in physical pain.

“Forget it,” he sighed, but Naruto immediately protested.

“No! Tell me, I’ll listen this time, promise!”

A tired glare formed on Sasuke’s face, and he let out another sigh before pausing in the middle of the street.

“Something’s bothering you. Just spit it out.”

So he’d been caught. Sasuke rarely asked about his feelings though, and he couldn’t help a tiny smile. That is, until he remembered he’d been busy worrying about Sasuke which he’d rather not tell.

“What do you think about the check-ups?” he asked instead, figuring it was plausible enough that Sasuke wouldn’t pry.

“I don’t think it’ll show anything. Orochimaru should have noticed something when I was at the hospital in that case.”

“I guess…” He was dying to ask about Sasuke’s behavior at the meeting, and why he seemed so sure nothing was wrong.

“You really don’t care about the inter-marriage thing?”

Okay, Naruto was starting to get really concerned now. It was one thing to react negatively to memories that were brought up, and a completely different thing for Sasuke to suddenly feel talkative and not just _ask questions_ , but do it with a very _curious_ expression on his face.

“Umm…” was all he could produce as he tried to think of what to say. In a way, it was fascinating to watch Sasuke’s facial expression go from curious, to questioning, to annoyed. In another, it kind of freaked him out. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Other than people asking me that way too often, yes, I’m fine.”

“U-huh,” Naruto said, narrowing his eyes and leaning a bit closer to inspect Sasuke’s eyes. Maybe he could see if he was drugged or something.

“Ever heard of personal space?” Sasuke snapped, pushing his face away. “Actually, don’t bother answering that.”

Fascination won over freaked out, and wide-eyed he decided to see just _how_ talkative Sasuke was feeling.

“Alright, tell me about the whole marriage thing!” he told Sasuke, grinning as he watched Sasuke _roll his eyes_ before starting to talk in a haughty voice.

“It’s this stupid practice the old clans have. I told you earlier, it’s to keep the bloodline intact. They’re more concerned about breeding the best offspring than-“

Sasuke snapped his mouth shut, looking uncomfortable. Naruto could see his jaw clench as he pushed his hands down his pockets, most likely balling them into fists judging by the tense muscles in the arm closest to him.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Well, that was a new sentence in Sasuke’s vocabulary. Naruto would know, considering he’d been basically the only one holding conversations with him since he returned, and if Sasuke didn’t want to talk he always reverted to insults. Maybe it was time to freak out again.

“Hey, Naruto, Sasuke!”

Interrupted by Sakura’s shout, they both turned towards her as she came running.

“I was just on my way to see if your meeting was over! How are you feeling, Sasuke?”

If looks could kill, Sakura just might have shriveled up right then and there. Instead she faltered, sending Naruto a questioning look but he only shrugged. He was fairly sure that telling Sakura that Sasuke was acting moody and strange wouldn’t help the situation very much. On another occasion he might have done it, if it actually was just one of his moods.

“Anyway, some of us are gathering up to have a little practice tournament, you want to join? I’d love to see you fight!”

“Why not?”

Naruto froze at the words coming out of Sasuke’s mouth. Wait, _what_?! A second ago he’d seemed pissed that Sakura was there! Warning bells started ringing in Naruto’s ears, but before he could come up with an excuse, Sakura had made a happy noise and promptly led them towards whatever place they were supposed to meet at while talking animatedly about past tournaments. Apparently, Menma held the record so far for most wins.

Not that Naruto cared. He was much too busy trying to come up with a foolproof excuse for Sasuke _not_ to join the fight. Suddenly, that medical check couldn’t come fast enough.

The training field wasn’t more than simply a field, with a couple of standing logs scattered to one side for practicing kicks. Most of what Naruto supposed was the usual gang had gathered, lacking only Neji and Shikamaru. Oh, and the other Sasuke, as well. Menma, however, was busy sparring with Chouji, both of them too engrossed in the mock fight to notice their arrival. The others only gave them a quick greeting before focusing on the fight again, even Hinata, thankfully.

“So the rules are that we each draw a number, which is the order we get to fight, and the winner stays while the loser has to sit out the rest of the tournament.”

“So technically the first person to enter could fight everyone and win?” Sasuke asked Sakura after her introduction as they stood next to the others to watch.

“Yeah, which means you’re at a disadvantage if you’re first, and have it easy if you’re last. But it’s easier to keep track of whose turn it is, and it’s just for fun anyway.”

Sasuke only hummed at this, apparently oblivious to Naruto’s concerned eyes.

“Well it’ll be interesting to watch!” he said, hoping Sasuke would get the hint that they weren’t joining in the fighting, but the only response he got was Sakura giving him an encouraging smile.

Watching Menma and Chouji instead, he didn’t pay that much active attention and instead let his mind wander at first. It had only been a minute or two however before Sasuke elbowed him in the side, hissing at him to pay attention and interrupting his thoughts of what to do if Sasuke decided he’d like to have a go after all. Maybe it was safer if he and Sasuke had a spar to show off a little. He didn’t want to think of what might happen if Sasuke got to fight, say, Hinata for example. But after rubbing at the forming bruise he sighed and decided to humor Sasuke if he thought it was so important.

The field had actually been painted with white in a wide circle, he noted, marking the area for the fights. He supposed stepping outside was one way of losing. The interesting thing was that everyone seemed to watch the fight so intently despite Sakura’s words that it was just for fun. Both Chouji and Menma held their own pretty well, though Naruto could see a rather large number of openings to use that neither seemed to catch. He supposed they were holding back for the sake of the game.

Honestly he wasn’t too happy about seeing Menma again after last night, and it still felt a little weird to look at a copy of himself that clearly wasn’t a clone. Menma had taken off his tank top and now wore only his dark pants and arm protectors, sweat trickling down his brow causing Naruto to wonder if he’d defeated several others already. Chouji seemed less tired but lacked speed compared to Menma, so it came as no surprise to him when after a few well-aimed kicks, Menma managed to bring Chouji to the ground.

“Your turn, Ino!” Lee exclaimed cheerfully, giving the shy girl a firm clap on the back as she timidly entered the circle.

“I’ll get you next time,” Chouji complained to Menma, who only smirked at him before mimicking Ino’s bow in greeting.

“No one’s beaten Menma for ages,” Sakura informed them, arms crossed and looking slightly annoyed by that fact. “He’s gotten too cocky.”

Sasuke snorted at this, and Naruto felt inclined to agree. After all, if they were all holding back he thought it was weird no one slipped and used more power to actually win. He remembered Menma as pretty strong during their fight, though, so maybe it was just a general rule not to use actual force that everyone actually kept. Which would be the opposite of when he and Sasuke sparred, they always managed to go overboard somehow.

“I could beat him blindfolded, with my hands tied and _asleep_ ,” Sasuke answered, sounding a little disappointed over this fact.

“Not if he actually fought like he meant it,” Naruto pointed out, but to himself he silently agreed. Sasuke wasn’t the kind of person who bragged so at least if it was this level of fighting he might be right. “What are the rules, anyway?”

Sakura had raised her eyebrows at Sasuke’s words, but now seemed to collect herself again and quickly counted them off her fingers.

“No chakra use, only taijutsu. You lose if your back hits the ground or if you step outside the ring. Other than that, you can do pretty much whatever.”

“Really?” he couldn’t help but ask, wincing as Ino was flung out of the painted circle to roll several times on the ground before finally stopping. It had been an easy move to block but she must have missed it, or Menma was doing something more than the simple grip it had seemed to be.

“Yeah, I mean there’s no point not fighting at full force, right?”

Sasuke clicked his tongue.

“I thought you said you had problems last time, dobe?”

“Hey! We were both in kyuubi mode, okay? He used this technique with some masked summons that could fight, they were pretty damn hard to beat.”

“Ooh that’s right, I forgot you two already fought! Wouldn’t it be fun to have a rematch?”

Staring at Sakura, Naruto thought that no, that wouldn’t be much fun. Well maybe under other circumstances, but not after last night and with Sasuke needing to be kept under close watch.

“Hn, Naruto would beat him in a second,” Sasuke said, and Menma must have heard him because he started walking towards them, head tilted to the side with narrowed eyes.

“What was that?” he asked, carelessly wiping some sweat off his forehead and not even sparing Naruto a glance. “You think being from another dimension gives you the right to act all confident?”

“No, but if that was you fighting at your best, I worry about the future of this village.”

Everyone fell silent as Sasuke calmly met Menma’s angry glare. At least he was calm, though Naruto thought it was much too early to relax.

“Dammit, Sasuke, we’re not supposed to pick fights, remember?” he hissed, taking a hold of Sasuke’s wrist but being shrugged off as Sasuke jutted out his chin and spoke again.

“You’ve got some nerve throwing a guest out of your house in the middle of the night, but I don’t mind knocking your ego down a peg or two.”

Mouth gaping, it was all Naruto could do to stare at Sasuke. Okay if he was acting strange because all the stuff happening since they arrived was finally getting to his head, but _what the hell_?!

“He decided to leave all on his own,” Menma argued, stepping a little closer and trying to stare Sasuke down. “I just needed my bed back, he could have slept in my parents’ room or something.”

“Why, can’t sleep if you’re not in your own bed? What a great ninja,” Sasuke taunted, which served to snap Naruto out of his momentary stupor and tug at Sasuke’s arm.

“Really, Sasuke, no harm done so let’s just drop it,” he said nervously, much too aware of everyone staring at them with apprehension. 

He had no idea what was wrong with Sasuke that kind of made him act a bit like his younger self, but he certainly didn’t trust him to hold back in a fight at this point.

“No harm done?” Sasuke asked, his voice smooth as silk but sending shivers of danger down his spine that everyone else must surely feel as well. “I believe there’s harm done if someone runs all the way across the village without shoes on, just to get away from you. Then again, it might just be the smell.”

“Sasuke!” Naruto shouted, placing his hand on his chest in an attempt to make him listen. “You’re not acting like yourself, okay? Menma, just ignore him, I’m taking him to the hospital.”

“Don’t baby me, Naruto, I’m perfectly fine.”

“No, you’re _not_.”

Staring hard at each other, Naruto felt his heart race in his chest. Something was clearly wrong with Sasuke and it couldn’t be good. In fact, Sasuke looked slightly feverish, and his heart beat almost as quickly as Naruto’s underneath his hand.

“Back off so I can fight him.”

“No.”

“I don’t need your permission.”

“Well that sucks ‘cause I’m not letting you fight.”

“Would you _stop_ that!” Sasuke growled, grabbing his wrist harshly and removing his hand. “I don’t need you looking after me all the damn time, it’s so incredibly annoying. Can I do _anything_ without you hanging all over me?!”

Naruto stepped back as if stung, eyes wide in disbelief. Was this because of acting weird or did Sasuke secretly think that the whole time? He didn’t want to think so, but felt the words twist painfully inside his chest.

“Sasuke, please listen to me,” he said quietly, trying to read the frustration in Sasuke’s dark eyes. He would say more, but Menma interrupted them.

“Not to interrupt your lover’s spat or anything, but I don’t have all day.”

Sasuke was still holding his wrist, but now slowly lowered their hands as he met Naruto’s worried gaze with concern.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said apologetically, his thumb brushing lightly over the inside of Naruto’s bandage wrist before letting go. “We’ll talk about this later.”

As Sasuke walked over to the painted circle, Naruto found his heart racing with anxiousness and something else that didn’t seem suitable for the situation at all. He could only turn to watch as Sasuke and Menma faced each other and bowed, his hand still slightly held up as he swallowed with some difficulty.

“Sasuke’s acting a bit weird, isn’t he?” Sakura whispered to him, and he nodded slowly.

He couldn’t think of anything to reply with, however, so he helplessly watched as Menma initiated his first attack. None of the thoughts rushing through his befuddled brain seemed to make sense to him. It was easier to stay quiet and ignore Sakura, instead keeping his focus on Sasuke’s smooth movements out in the field.

For someone who’d been worried about fighting without his Sharingan, Sasuke looked perfectly composed, bored even. As the minutes dragged on it seemed as if Menma’s mood was drastically worsening. Sasuke stayed on the defensive, as if taunting Menma for being unable to even land a small hit. It would have been amusing under other circumstances, but Naruto felt almost sick with anticipation. Something was bound to happen with Sasuke acting like this, and he hoped the fight would end before Menma did something stupid to piss Sasuke off. The normal Sasuke had problems with his temper when it came to non-threatening situations, so Naruto didn’t want to think what he might do when _not_ in control.

Had it been a real fight he would have, ironically, felt less worried.

“I thought you said you’d fight me!” Menma tried to aggravate Sasuke with, putting extra force behind his punches. “Or is this cowardly dodging the only thing you’ve been taught?!”

A wrinkle formed between Sasuke’s dark brows, and there was an almost sneer forming on his lips.

“You think dodging is cowardly?” he asked, then made a quick as lightning strike with his right hand that hit Menma right in the gut, causing him to almost double over from the pain. “If you can’t dodge you can’t retaliate,” he continued, taking a few steps back and waiting for Menma to recover.

When the blond mop of hair rose it revealed a _very_ pissed off Menma.

“I see how it is,” he growled, and Naruto reeled back at the hateful look on his face. “You think just because Naruto defeated me last time, you don’t even need to take me seriously. But you know what? You pack a _weak punch_.”

Sasuke must have been surprised by his expression too, because he seemed almost hesitant at first to respond. Then his eyes narrowed in obvious dislike before his body shifted into a more proper fighting stance, compared to the relaxed one he’d had earlier.

“I really don’t like you,” he said, but Menma merely grinned at him, and Naruto had to wonder if Menma had _really_ been used that time they fought or if he was just pretending to be nice.

A quick look around them however only showed concern, not surprise, on the others’ faces. Probably Menma just had some serious issues about getting beaten. Basically, he felt as if he was watching two highly unstable guys who probably shouldn’t be within eyesight of each other getting ready to fight for real. Biting the inside of his cheek he winced as Menma launched himself in a vicious combo of kicks and blows, forcing Sasuke to actually block them this time. Still, Sasuke looked as if he was merely blocking out of pity rather than any actual need for it, as if he was sparring with an irritating child. Menma continued to throw taunts at him, but Sasuke ignored him for now and instead responded to each and every move with precise grace.

They moved much slower than he was used to seeing Sasuke, though of course he didn’t have his Rinnegan to speed him up to a barely visible shadow. Menma didn’t seem to think he was slow, however, growing more and more frustrated each time Sasuke responded to the kicks and aimed fists the same methodical way someone might do when going through well-known exercises.

Naruto did love watching Sasuke in action. There was just something enthralling about the way he moved his body, and the intense look in his eyes as his brain was always five steps ahead, calculating his opponent’s moves. He loved seeing the little glares he’d give whenever Naruto managed to get the upper hand, and the superior quirk of lips when he gained it back. Sparring with Sasuke was great, and watching him was a rare occurrence that Naruto always enjoyed.

But something was off this time, and Naruto couldn’t shake off the fear that threatened to creep up his spine. He concentrated on evaluating Sasuke’s form, but found nothing strange in the way he fought. There was that same flush on his face as before, though, as if he had a light fever. Even so he didn’t seem affected by it, nor did he seem tired or imbalanced in his actions. If anything, he looked one hundred percent concentrated on the fight.

Then, as Sasuke crouched on the ground before sweeping a leg out wide in a half circle to trip Menma, he _felt it._

 _Thump, thump, thu-thu-thump, thump, thu-thump_ …

Sasuke’s life force wasn’t beating in its usual steady rhythm, and Naruto’s throat constricted painfully until he thought he might choke. What was happening?! He needed to stop the fight _now_!

Before he could move, however, Sasuke apparently got tired of playing with Menma and decided to end the fight on his own. His body moved in an almost blur as he first sent Menma flying into the air, then followed up with a series of strong kicks that had to be painful to receive.

The move had appeared effortless, but as Menma landed on his back and coughed, Sasuke seemed to be panting harshly all of a sudden. Running before he realized it, Naruto soon skidded to a halt in front of Sasuke and gripped his shoulders, searching his eyes for any clues as to what was going on.

“What?” Sasuke asked, clearly irritated, but Naruto was too busy staring at him.

His eyes were wider than normal, pupils big and round, and Sasuke was having trouble focusing properly. This close he could feel the alarming unevenness to the beat of his life force more strongly, and hear the strain to his breaths that definitely shouldn’t be there. He didn’t know what to do. Something crazy was happening to Sasuke and when he found out who or what caused it, he’d go to hell and back to make sure they suffered.

“Sasuke, we need to go to the hospital,” he said, trying to keep his voice reasonable.

“Don’t be stupid,” Sasuke told him, prying his hands off with some difficulty. “I didn’t even hit him that hard.”

“No, not him, _you_!” he shouted in frustration, thinking that maybe he should just teleport instead of argue.

“What, running away, are you?” Menma asked angrily, wiping some blood off his nose and glaring hard at them when Naruto turned his head. “The fight isn’t over.”

“This was such a waste of time,” Sasuke muttered, flicking his hair irritably. “You’re not even good enough for a warm-up.”

Naruto groaned, about to tell Sasuke to shut up since he wasn’t helping when a highly familiar chakra flared to life behind him. Spinning around he was faced with none other than Kurama, though not the friendly Kurama he’d gotten used to the past year. No, this was just like when they had their fight, and he could relate more to the description of the bijuu being mindless chakra beasts now.

“Try beating me now!” Menma called down from his position on top of the fox’s head.

 _I’m not impressed_ , Kurama snorted inside Naruto’s mind, but he was too busy with the whole situation to bother listening.

“Menma, stop it!” Sakura called, sounding scared. “You’re not allowed to do that inside the village!”

The others were backing away, watching the huge chakra entity with dread as it opened its snout to roar up at the sky.

“This would go smoother if I had my katana,” Sasuke calmly stated, and Naruto startled at hearing his voice, almost wanting to laugh at the ridiculous situation.

“What?! You can’t fight him, Sasuke!”

“Why not?” Sasuke was frowning, but his eyes were still strangely wide, and his fingertips twitched when he pushed a few bangs to the side. “He’s not even half as strong as you.”

“That’s not the _point_!”

Shrugging, Sasuke stepped past him and towards the kyuubi, giving him an irritated glance when his shoulders were grabbed again, this time from behind.

“That’s it, we’re leaving,” Naruto decided, but hadn’t expected Sasuke to disappear in a puff of smoke, leaving a log in his stead. “Oh, crap,” he whispered to himself as he saw Sasuke running towards the giant fox, cursing himself for not noticing.

Quickly he ran after him, thinking that he _really_ should have just put a teleportation mark on Sasuke whether he liked it or not for occasions like this. And what the hell was up with Menma?!

Three tails came swooping down but Sasuke avoided them easily as Naruto neared him. He considered creating clones, but Sasuke would probably notice and simply cut through them. Dammit, why did Sasuke have to be such a difficult bastard! He jumped over another tail, gritting his teeth when Sasuke just barely avoided getting hit.

 _Want some help?_ Kurama asked, but Naruto shook his head. They were too close to the village to risk an actual fight at full force. Menma should be able to be reasoned with as soon as he reached him. If only those annoying tails would stop trying to beat him into the ground!

Sasuke seemed to have a bit of trouble as well without his Sharingan foreseeing the tails’ movements, which made it possible for Naruto to catch up with him fairly quickly. Still, Sasuke avoided his touch so he couldn’t teleport them away, and didn’t stop until they paused directly in front of the kyuubi’s head.

“Seriously, this is a bad idea!” he yelled, throwing a look upwards when he heard Menma laugh.

“What happened to your powers, Naruto?!” his supposed alternate self shouted, grinning wide as he held on to the kyuubi’s fur at the top of its head.

Ignoring him, Naruto turned to reason with Sasuke again, but he’d barely opened his mouth when Sasuke rolled his eyes and heaved a long-suffering sigh.

“If you think I’m going to let him off easy you’re wrong,” he said, holding his gaze, and there was something flickering in there that made Naruto’s chest squeeze uncomfortably.

“Well?! What are you waiting for!” Menma called down to them, tails creating roaring winds around them but for now not trying to hit them.

“But _why_ ,” Naruto pleaded, one more nonsense answer from pulling at his hair in frustration, or knock Sasuke out himself and drag him to the hospital by force if he had to.

Sasuke however seemed confused by his distress, giving him a weird look before switching focus to the fox above them.

“Something just feels wrong about him, can’t you feel that? It pisses me off.”

And with that, Sasuke quickly went through the all too familiar hand signs before a high-pitched, chirping noise filled the air along with the crackle of lightning chakra.

Too shocked to even try to stop him, Naruto simply stared after him as he kicked off the ground, jumping between the tails as Menma shouted excitedly. He felt as if time had slowed down, as if all noises were subdued, his body numb as his brain struggled to keep up with the information provided by his eyes. The fox shook its head and charged straight ahead, heading for Sasuke who didn’t change course. Electric blue reflected in blood red eyes a second before they clashed, Sasuke’s Chidori slicing through the animal’s nose before it exploded in delayed, powerful bursts of chakra.

The shockwave was bad enough that Naruto had to shield himself with his arms, his feet sliding a bit on the grassy ground. As soon as the first one had blasted past him, however, he blindly ran towards Sasuke’s rapidly beating life force as if it was a beacon in the dark. He vaguely noted Menma falling not far from him, another wave of chakra hitting them as the rest of the kyuubi’s body blew apart.

 _Ouch_ , Kurama thought, but provided the chakra needed without complaint as Naruto threw the golden extension of his arm forwards to catch Sasuke.

His body hung limp in Naruto’s enlarged hand, and it was with a sinking feeling in his gut that Naruto closed the distance between them. He already knew, but seeing Sasuke’s unconscious face now was no better than it had been two days ago. Carefully he cradled him in both arms, hardly noticing that there were still golden flames of chakra licking his body.

“I fucking told you!” he yelled, struggling to rein in his emotions in order to concentrate on teleporting. “Damn bastard!”

 _He’s an Uchiha,_ Kurama informed him, as if it would make things better. _You know they never listen_.

“Fucking shut up and do something useful instead!”

Gritting his teeth, Naruto tried to force down the lump in his throat threatening to choke him as Sasuke’s face turned paler than usual, his breathing shallow as if in pain. If his sage powers weren’t useless now he could have healed him in a second!

Kurama sighed, but teleported them anyway. _He’ll be fine, dying now would be much too embarrassing for him, anyway._

Naruto didn’t appreciate the comment, but soon forgot it in order to explain to a terrified nurse that Sasuke needed help right fucking _now_ or he’d tear the building apart brick for brick until he found a doctor.

It got the point across.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we'll find out what's going on with Sasuke. Don't worry he's not dying or anything. And we'll also get to see what was up with Menma... I hope you liked the chapter!


	17. Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two days is a lot better than two months, right? 
> 
> Anyway, the new Naruto gaiden chapter came out today and I'm in tears. Amused tears, I mean. Can it really get worse from here on? I'm sure it can. Salad surprisingly seems like the only character that isn't a cardboard cut-out though. 
> 
> As for this chapter, I'm very excited because things are gonna get interesting! Some of you were worried that Sasuke is going to have a hard time after this, but we'll see if you have the same worries after reading this. Well maybe you will. I haven't had time to reply to reviews yet but I'll do it as soon as I can, gotta run off to the stable now. This chapter is brought to you by my skipped lecture. You're welcome.

_Irritated. Yes, that’s how he felt. Immensely irritated, as if the feeling crawled along his skin and then burrowed deep inside of him. His fingers twitched but to no avail, he couldn’t lift them to scratch the patches of skin where goose bumps erupted. So he stayed still, gritting his teeth when all he wanted was to break something. Preferably the thing that irritated him, he just had no idea what it was. Was it even anything? It was confusing that he would feel so annoyed, and for no apparent reason._

_Actually, what was even going on? He had no idea, but the crawling feeling disappeared to leave a prickling sense of confusion in its stead. What was happening to him? He tried to look around himself but there was nothing to see, as if he was inside a pale vacuum. Nothingness everywhere, and confusion slipped away to leave room for crippling loneliness._

_God, he hated this feeling. He hated that he couldn’t push it away, hated the pain twisting inside his body but it didn’t help, he still felt alone and it hurt. It hurt so, so bad and he tried to curl in on himself, tried to keep the darkness away as his body shook. He was freezing, a painful coldness stiffening his spine and joints and he could barely breathe, pressure pushing down on him from all sides._

_A sudden warmth flooded him, and he gasped for air as his lungs remembered how to function again. He felt filled with golden liquid, heating him up from the inside and burning away the pain. He hadn’t noticed his heartbeat skyrocketing until it calmed down, his entire body feeling light and pleasant. Compared to the pain, this was pure bliss. He never wanted it to end. Simply floating inside this warmth forever… it didn’t sound so bad. It was relaxing, dulling his senses and cloaking him in sweetness._

_But it would disappear, wouldn’t it? Like everything else in his life so far. Immediately he could feel worry gnaw at the edges of the warmth that enveloped him, gnawing and leaving holes filled with nauseating darkness. He grasped for it, desperately, but it kept slipping through his numb fingertips. He wanted to call out to it, beg for it to stay, but knew it was futile._

_Again, he was left with nothing. He was starting to get tired of that. Every time he thought he knew where he was going, the ground was ripped from underneath his feet and when he landed again, it was in an entirely new, unfamiliar setting. It was tiresome. He was tired of being alone, tired of not knowing where to go, what to do, how to feel… Tired of not being able to guide himself, when everyone around him tried to manipulate him._

_But there was someone. There was someone who never lied, someone who never tried to hurt him, someone Sasuke had hurt instead._

_Slowly, like a whisper caressing his ears, another feeling took shape within him. It pushed at the darkness, and bit by bit, it seemed to fade. First into a dark grey, then lighter, until color bled through the gaps in the walls that had been surrounding him._

_Barely familiar, and highly unwelcome, Sasuke had no choice but to endure this feeling as it invaded his conscious thoughts, bright and demanding attention._

_Once he got rid of this crap, he had a dobe to punch._

xxx

Naruto sat by Sasuke’s hospital bed, _again_ he might add, head resting on his crossed arms on top of the mattress. He really hated hospitals. Nothing good ever came out of them, no matter how much Sakura sometimes tried to convince him of the opposite. Especially not concerning Sasuke.

Tilting his head a little he stared at Sasuke’s unconscious face, too tired to feel upset anymore. It must have been half a day since he was put in this bed, and Naruto had only left once to visit the bathroom by the end of the corridor. Actually, he’d left a clone with Sasuke that time so it was only technically leaving him. None of the nurses had asked him to leave, and Orochimaru had sighed in resignation upon seeing him still sitting by Sasuke’s side when visiting hours were over in the evening.

The door opened, but he didn’t bother checking who it was. Nurses and doctors had came and went the whole day, and even though it was late at night now he supposed they were still doing rounds.

“Naruto?”

He sucked in a breath, but didn’t move when Kushina entered the room and grabbed a chair to sit next to him.

“I just came back from my mission,” she explained in a quiet voice, and Naruto was thankful that she didn’t start by asking about Sasuke.

Because he really didn’t know what to tell.

“I see,” he said, still with his back towards her.

When he felt gentle fingers stroking his neck in a comforting motion he stiffened, then relaxed into the touch. It made him feel a little less lonely.

“Orochimaru-sensei told me they haven’t figured out what’s wrong with him yet.”

He bit the inside of his cheek but nodded once, the hand holding Sasuke’s limp wrist tightening around it.

“I’m sure he’ll be back to health in no time. He’s really strong, isn’t he?”

There was a painful lump lodged in Naruto’s throat that simply refused to disappear no matter how many times he swallowed.

“He shouldn’t be here at all,” he whispered, surprised by how hoarse his voice sounded.

Though, he hadn’t said anything for hours, only sat here and occasionally pumped chakra into Sasuke since it seemed to be the only thing that smoothened out his features when they scrunched up in pain. The drugs didn’t work, something they’d found out early on, because somehow Sasuke’s body resisted them. Naruto wondered if it was something he’d picked up while working for Orochimaru, but of course he couldn’t tell them that.

“Of course not,” Kushina agreed soothingly, squeezing his shoulder. “But the medics here are competent, they’ll figure it out.”

Naruto didn’t answer. He missed Sakura and Tsunade at home, they would for sure know what to do. If anything he’d at least feel a little better about it because he trusted them. For all he knew, it could be these people doing this to Sasuke. But what other choice did he have?

At the moment Sasuke’s life force was a steady, calm beat in Naruto’s chest. Whenever it became irregular he knew what to expect by now, first the pained look on his face, then the twitching of his fingers before his breathing became shallow and his skin paled even more. It had happened the first times they’d tried blocking the pain with drugs, and just the memory of it hurt.

Sasuke didn’t deserve this. He deserved to be _happy_ , deserved to be _safe_ , everything that Naruto had seemingly failed to give him so far.

“Oh, _honey_ ,” Kushina cooed, and Naruto hadn’t realized he’d been crying until she gathered him into her arms and hugged him tightly. “We’ll do everything we can to help, okay? It’ll be okay, I promise.”

He nodded, face pressed against her chest as he tried to suppress the choked sobs escaping him. He was just so tired, and everything was a mess, and Sasuke acting strange scared him so much he didn’t know what to do. One hand still held onto Sasuke’s wrist, and the other he used to furiously rub at his eyes. Crying wouldn’t help, he needed to be strong for Sasuke, he needed to-

But Kushina took a hold of his hand and removed it from his face, her eyes filled with honest concern and empathy in the dim lighting of the bedside lamp.

“You don’t need to hold back your tears, Naruto. You’ll feel better if you let it all out. And then afterwards I’ll get you something to eat.”

He sniffled, helpless as new tears welled up at the corners of his eyes. Without Sasuke standing by his side he felt so small and pathetic, even if he was a ninja, even if he was a supposed hero. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing Sasuke to some strange illness in a strange world with no idea of why they were there or who brought them there.

“It’s okay, kid,” Kushina said, giving him a reassuring smile as she wiped some tears off his cheek with a thumb. “Everything will feel better in the morning.”

Naruto prayed that she was right.

xxx

_Sadness. Happiness. Pain. Relief. Worry. Anger._

_The emotions kept tumbling through his mind, giving way to each other like there was a queue. Some stayed longer, some barely brushed him before rushing off to the end of the queue again. There didn’t seem to be an end in sight, but there wasn’t much he could do besides endure._

_So he endured._

xxx

It was midday, and Naruto felt lethargic. He hadn’t really managed to eat during the night despite Kushina’s tries, and honestly he couldn’t bring himself to care that much.

Still in his uncomfortable chair he fidgeted a little, trying to get some blood running through his legs again. He knew he should probably move around a bit so he didn’t fall asleep, but couldn’t find the energy. He’d slid down halfway, but since the chair was pulled up so close to the bed, Sasuke’s hand was within easy reach. Sometimes he held it, just because.

He’d had a lot of time to think, but nothing productive had come out of it. He was angry, but there was nothing to direct his anger towards. Not even Menma, because Sasuke had been just as much at fault for their fight. Well, maybe Menma was a bit more responsible.

As if the thought had summoned him, there was a knock on the door and his counterpart stepped inside. He didn’t look happy about being there, eyes stubbornly downcast, a plastic bag hanging from one hand.

“’Sup?” he said, sounding as reluctant as he looked, causing Naruto to sigh and return attention to Sasuke’s sleeping form instead.

“Don’t bother,” he muttered, but Menma walked closer until he stood on the opposite side of the bed.

“I brought you food.”

Naruto glanced at the bag, noticing the familiar shape of the container inside. But even Ichiraku’s ramen couldn’t lift his mood particularly.

“Mom says you have to eat, or she’ll come force feed you.”

“Then why did she send _you_?”

Menma scuffed his shoe on the floor, thinning his lips with a frown.

“To apologize,” he mumbled, and Naruto couldn’t help but glare at him.

“You don’t look very sorry,” he accused, crossing his arms and straightening up.

Menma opened his mouth to argue but seemed to change his mind because he clamped his mouth shut, sending an uneasy glance towards Sasuke.

“I just thought that if I made you fight, you’d show your true faces,” he finally admitted, staring at Naruto defiantly.

“Our true faces?” Naruto was surprised, and it must have made Menma relax somewhat because he sighed and shoved one hand down a pocket in his loose shorts.

“Well, last time you showed up everything got fucked up. No one else seems to think it was your fault but…”

The innuendo was obvious, and Naruto scoffed at him.

“We’re not the bad guys here, if anything, last time it was you!”

“The masked man used me and everyone else to get to you, I don’t care if you’re innocent, it’s still your fault everything happened.”

Naruto didn’t know what to say to that. In a way, it was true. If Obito hadn’t brought him and Sakura there, he’d never have used Menma to try and kill him.

Menma’s lips stretched into a triumphant smile, but rather than rub it in he simply dumped the container of ramen next to Sasuke and walked towards the door.

“Sasuke better hurry up and get better so we can have a proper fight,” he said, and strangely enough it made Naruto feel a little better.

Maybe he should try to eat after all, since the ramen was already here and everything. But when he opened the container, he let out an annoyed curse.

Of _course_ that asshole would give him ramen with _menma_ in it.

xxx

_Anxiously, he waited for that feeling of golden bliss. It came now and then, and it was much preferable to the other emotions he suffered through. Absentmindedly he wondered if waiting was a feeling, too. He’d been waiting for his brother as a child._

_The memories came easy to him in this state. How excited he’d been. How Itachi would poke his forehead and say “next time” and how young Sasuke would believe him. He’d believed everything his brother said. Or had he? Now he wasn’t so sure. Had he really believed him, or had he just wanted to believe him? His belief in Konoha had been much more blind._

_And Konoha had murdered his family._

_Like snakes, he could feel the familiar feeling of hatred slither up his arms and encircle his neck. The pressure was familiar, too. If he didn’t run forwards at full speed he ran the risk of the snakes coiling tighter to form a noose._

_Though, some days he would have preferred that._

_Ah, there it was again. He floated, happily void of thought for a while. It never lasted, but it always returned. There was a certain comfort in knowing that, and every time it did, the emotions following seemed less intense, less painful. It was soothing, and few things in Sasuke’s past had been. So he enjoyed it while it lasted, pushing away everything else. He’d never thought he needed a mental break, but now that he’d experienced one, he’d come to realize that it wasn’t so bad._

_There were always too many things below the surface that tried to catch his attention, tried to steal his strength and render him weak and useless. Not having a specific goal made him feel weak. It had been bothering him ever since he returned to Konoha, to the place he despised the most._

_What was his goal?_

_But in these moments of bliss he didn’t need a goal. He didn’t need to think about his choices, didn’t need to feel the disconnection between Naruto in Konoha, on one hand, and Konoha itself, on the other._

_He heaved a mental sigh, because as soon as he thought of Naruto, that other feeling turned up uninvited. He didn’t like the feeling. It was embarrassing and unwanted and the worst part was that he just knew it was the lone cause that he’d never gone through with his plans to destroy Konoha._

_Even Itachi hadn’t managed to sway him. So why Naruto? They hadn’t even done much besides fight each other._

_But in this place, there was no one to fool other than himself._

_That didn’t mean he was happy about it, however. There were things he’d wanted to do and knowing he’d been hindered by something as measly as emotions didn’t sit quite right with him. The past year had been nothing but coming up with pathetic excuses to stay where he was and help rebuild the very place he’d vowed to destroy. Not that he’d ever admitted it to himself._

_If there was one thing Sasuke hated besides Konoha, it was losing control. Not being in control of himself and the situation felt terrible, and he’d do anything to avoid it._

_And yet, the worst part was that being with Naruto, he felt both in control yet so helplessly lacking it. He knew he could leave if he wanted to, but he also knew that Naruto would find him again and make him not want to leave._

_But Naruto had said he wouldn’t chase after him if he had a good reason for leaving._

_Did he? Did he have any reasons at all, for anything in his life? At least Naruto was something, something he could hold on to when nothing else was left. Sure, he could have gone travelling with Taka, but where? Why? Sasuke didn’t like doing things without a plan. And Naruto was a semblance of a plan, if nothing else. Naruto was a future._

_A strange sensation filled him then, a bubbling anticipation, a positivity he hadn’t thought himself capable of feeling anymore._

_He felt calmer than he had in too long._

xxx

Orochimaru was back again, running tests like he had the past two days. Naruto never really understood what he was doing, and the medic nin didn’t explain much either.

“It does seem like the worst is over,” Orochimaru commented as he carefully held his hands on each side of Sasuke’s head.

“You think so?” Naruto didn’t dare to hope, but anything that wasn’t bad news at this point was great news.

“Well, you said it yourself, he doesn’t need chakra as often. It’s just a matter of waiting for him to wake up, I should think.”

“Really?” Naruto doubted it was that simple. “Are you sure it’s not someone doing this to him?”

“I have a theory, but we won’t know for sure until he wakes up. But the only things that seem wrong with him are his chakra signature and hormone levels. And since Tsunade told me a few hours ago that Sasuke has received chakra from the Sage of the six paths…”

Naruto blinked a couple times, trying to follow Orochimaru’s train of thought.

“You think it’s got something to do with that? I mean sure, we can’t use it here and Sasuke even fainted but… why didn’t the same thing happen to me, then?”

“That’s the strange part, of course.” Orochimaru let go of Sasuke’s head and scribbled a few things on his clipboard. “If Sasuke went through this because he used a certain amount of chakra, then it doesn’t make sense that the same thing didn’t happen to you when you barged in here.”

Scratching his neck in slight embarrassment, Naruto promised silently that he’d apologize to the poor nurse in the reception before he left.

“The only difference between the two of you is that he has the Sharingan.”

Naruto waited for a continuation, but none came as the man checked Sasuke’s pulse and made sure the needles sat secured in his right forearm. He hated seeing the tube connected to his IV, but at least he didn’t need to worry much about Sasuke’s physical well-being. However, as soon as Orochimaru had concluded that whatever was happening was purely inside his brain, Naruto’s worries had doubled.  

He didn’t know much about medical things, but he did know that the brain was much harder to fix than the rest of the body. He’d listened to Sakura’s rants enough times to understand that much, at least. And now Sasuke had been unconscious for almost three days, even if he’d been pretty calm the past twelve hours or so.

“I think the worst has definitely passed, Naruto. You should be happy that your chakra is able to make things easier for him. And when he wakes up, we’ll see where to go from there.”

Frowning, Naruto watched Orochimaru leave the room. He didn’t like the feeling he got that there was something he wouldn’t tell Naruto. Rubbing his tired eyes, he sighed and tried not to think about it too much. He was running out of stamina, and had been told several times by different people that he should take a shower and get some sleep. Sure, Sasuke was calmer now, and sure, he could leave a clone, but he _didn’t want to_. Still, every time he was left alone with Sasuke it got more difficult to keep focus.

_What help will you be if you pass out from exhaustion?_ Kurama asked him, sounding tired as well.

Of course, Naruto had been tapping into his chakra quite a lot, but he suspected that wasn’t entirely the reason.

_We’ve already had this conversation_ , he reminded the fox, scooting closer to the bed again now that no one was looking.

They hadn’t removed the bandage on Sasuke’s left arm upon Naruto’s insistence, but it was starting to look a little dirty. He’d asked for some new, and Orochimaru had been nice enough to leave a roll for him without asking questions.

_You’ll fall asleep sooner or later_ , Kurama reminded him. _Better to do it before it’s too late._

Naruto made a disagreeing noise in his throat, and carefully started unwrapping Sasuke’s bandage. When he started removing it from his palm, he noticed that the skin looked a little irritated. Speeding up, he sucked in a breath and held it. Sasuke’s mark was as dark as ever, but it appeared to _shift_ , as if growing slightly before shrinking back to its normal size. It took Naruto several minutes of careful watching before he could conclude that yes, it really was changing size back and forth. The skin surrounding it was red and looked sore, and Sasuke’s fingers twitched almost unnoticeably when he ran a finger across some of it.  

Ripping off his own bandage, he noticed with a sinking feeling in his gut that it looked completely normal.

Whatever was happening was _only_ happening to Sasuke, it seemed. And it was highly possible that Orochimaru was correct, in that case, and it did have something to do with the sage powers.

He clenched his fists, nails digging into skin. If there was a way to reverse their roles, if there was _any_ way he could have taken Sasuke’s pain instead of him…

He would do it in a heartbeat.

xxx

_There was a small fire burning in the distance, and Sasuke followed its beacon through the darkness. Though, the darkness didn’t feel so terribly lonely anymore, and he found himself in no hurry to reach it. He did feel a little curious, because so far he hadn’t been able to see anything at all, and this was a definite change of things. It felt like he’d been here too long already, and he was looking forward to end it._

_Why he thought that reaching the fire would get him out of there he didn’t know, but anything was better than aimlessly hanging around and feeling things. It got tedious after a while. He didn’t think there was one single emotion he hadn’t experienced so far, and most of them had repeated themselves until he didn’t find it upsetting anymore._

_Stepping into the circle of light he saw a figure sitting by the fire, apparently meditating. As he neared, he saw that it was an old woman, her hair stark white and long, fanning out behind her on the ground. She opened one eye as he came to a stop, milky pale and boring sharply through him. Her face was wrinkled and her hands as well as she motioned for him to sit down, but Sasuke got the impression that there was immense strength hidden behind her frail appearance._

_“Child,” she said, he voice smooth like the brush of a summer wind through his hair. “What do you think of this place?”_

_He observed her, torn between denying being a child, and trying to come up with a reply._

_“I wasn’t aware it was a place,” he eventually said, making himself comfortable on the hard ground._

_“Well, what else would it be?” she asked, an amused tone to her voice. “If you can experience it, it is most definitely a place. Though, you seem eager to leave.”_

_“I have things to do,” he explained, narrowing his eyes when hers closed again and she turned her face towards the fire. No heat seemed to emanate from it, however there were shadows playing across her dignified features. “I can’t waste my time on emotions.”_

_“Ah,” she said, turning her open palms up, and Sasuke wasn’t sure what she meant by that._

_They sat in silence for a while, and it could have been minutes or hours, because this place didn’t seem to measure time the way Sasuke did. He felt slightly uneasy, because here he sat in the presence of some woman he’d never seen before, with no idea where this place was or why he was there. He kind of wished Naruto was there, at least he would have broken the silence by now._

_“If it bothers you, break the silence yourself.”_

_He stiffened, eyeing her with suspicion, though she continued to sit calmly in the same position as before. Was it a test? He’d never liked those, not when Kakashi brought forth the bells, and not now either._

_“Just tell me what I need to know,” he said, resigned when time dragged on._

_“You seem so certain I brought you here to tell you things, child.”_

_He scowled at her._

_“People rarely bring me places for other reasons.”_

_“Ah,” she said again, and Sasuke could feel impatience spreading through him, but he waved it off._

_“Whatever,” he sighed, staring into the flames instead._

_It was only now that he noticed there weren’t any logs for the fire to feed on. Instead, the flames seemed to spring out of the ground all by themselves. He contemplated this for a while, coming to the conclusion that they must be some sort of chakra based flames._

_“Is there something you would want me to tell you?” the old woman asked him seemingly out of nowhere, the same eye opening to watch him._

_“Why I’m here,” he tried, reluctant because he doubted he’d receive a satisfying reply._

_“Hmm, no, try something else.”_

_He ground his teeth together, starting to find her infuriating._

_“Why I’m feeling all these things,” he said instead, and she gave him an innocent look._

_“Why, you tell me. No one is forcing you, child.”_

_“I’m not a child,” he argued, and she closed her eye again and lifted her face towards the flames, as if there really was heat coming from the fire._

_“Everyone is the child of someone,” she told him quietly, and he had to avert his eyes as he attempted to swallow the lump in his throat._

_His mother’s face hovered in the back of his mind, his father right behind her. He didn’t want to think about them, yet there they were, always, a painful reminder of everything he’d lost._

_“Then what is at the front of your mind?” she asked, and he gave her a startled look._

_Staying silent, he didn’t know what to think. At the front of his mind? That sounded pretty ridiculous._

_“But there is something,” she continued, as if baiting him to talk. “I have nothing to tell you, but I do have a question.”_

_Glad that she was finally getting to the point, Sasuke watched as she grabbed a thin stick out of seemingly thin air, and dipped one end into the flames._

_“You see, child, everything burns out eventually, even things you expect will never fade. Like the sun.”_

_“That sounds a lot like telling me something,” he couldn’t help but point out, and she gave him a secretive smile as she held the stick vertically in front of her._

_“This stick,” she continued, “has started to burn. Why? Because I held it into the fire. Now, what do you think will happen?”_

_“It’ll burn out,” he offered as a guess, thinking it was a childish question. “Besides, the sun won’t burn out, that’s ridiculous.”_

_“Everything burns out in the end,” she disagreed. “What matters is how soon.”_

_And then she blew at the flames, and they flickered and died, with only a small part of the stick charred black._

_“So in the end, everyone dies,” he concluded, but she held the stick towards him as if to silence him._

_“In the end, you decide whether it burns out sooner or later. Because it’s merely a stick, and we have control over it.”_

_She threw it to him, and he caught it easily. The burnt part was falling off, the smell of soot strong in his nostrils._

_“Well, go on,” she told him, when all he did was stare at her with doubt. “Light it. If that’s what you want.”_

_“Why would I want to light a stick?” he muttered, tired of her riddled speech. “There’s no reason.”_

_“Then think of a reason.”_

_“Your promise of not telling me things isn’t working out too well.”_

_The fire disappeared, leaving them in pitch black darkness._

_“Is there a reason now?”_

_Heaving a sigh, he placed the stick on the ground and went through the familiar hand signs, breathing in deep before blowing fire. It lit the stick instantly, engulfing it fully in flames. Sasuke didn’t know why, but it felt better to watch it burn with his own, brightly yellow and orange flames than the paler ones from before._

_It took him a while to realize, but the stick seemed to burn out much more slowly now than before, if at all._

_“It’s not burning out,” he commented, trying to decipher her facial expression._

_“No, evidently. It’s not the stick that’s important as much as the flames. And those flames are yours, child.”_

_“So it’ll burn forever?”_

_“I told you nothing burns forever.”_

_“So you admit you were telling me things.”_

_Her eye opened again, her mouth twitching as if she tried not to smile._

_“Well then, time for my question.” She straightened up, and so did Sasuke as he held his breath. “Why is the flame burning?”_

_Sasuke frowned at her._

_“Well, there is a stick feeding it.”_

_This time she did smile, and it lit up their surroundings far more than the flame was doing._

_“Wrong,” she answered. “But fear not, child, you will figure it out soon enough.”_

_And with that she disappeared, leaving Sasuke alone with his burning stick and the vague feeling that he was forgetting something important._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo.... new character!!! Maybe you can easily guess who it is, maybe you can't. We won't see her for a while again though, but rest assured she's lurking in the shadows mwahaha. Now then, what do you think Sasuke will do when he wakes up? A rematch with Menma maybe? Haha. Or punch a dobe like he seemed so intent on doing. 
> 
> This is all part of the 180 degree plot change I've done though so I'm very excited to know what you think. I hope you liked it!!!


	18. Waking up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay Sasuke is finally waking up! And facing his worst enemy yet... dun dun dun! I didn't think I'd be able to finish the chapter today but here I am past 11pm and full of inspiration. Probably bc one of my gay OTPs in Swedish literature just became canon!!!! Can't believe it. I've been waiting for years. Ah, the happiness knows no bounds. 
> 
> Anyway, soon we can head into the romance part of the story. I mean, we've all been waiting for it, right? Can't believe it's taken me 18 chapters. What the hell have I been doing up until now?? Nobody knows. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The distinct uncomfortable feeling in his body was what alerted Sasuke to the fact that he was waking up. He felt heavy, slow, the opposite of the light flowing feeling he’d had before. His limbs felt stiff, too, and he awkwardly shifted to try and find a better position. Licking his dry lips he forced his eyes to start opening, sighing when he had to raise a hand to remove some sleep from there. It would be just his luck if he’d been out for days, and considering how stiff and sore he felt it wasn’t impossible.

Peeking through his lashes he could see a hospital room, well that much he had already guessed. He’d also felt Naruto’s presence as soon as he was conscious enough to register it, and therefore he didn’t bother with being on guard. Judging by the sun’s low position from what he could see through the window it had to be early evening, and he ran a tired hand through his hair and relaxed into his pillow. So much for staying in control.

Thinking back on the events before he had evidently blacked out, a frown found its way onto his face and he sent an irritated thought towards Menma. That guy just _irked_ him somehow.

Taking a calming breath through his nose, Sasuke opened his eyes fully to search for a similar blond mop of hair. It took his sleep-befuddled brain a moment to realize why it wasn’t as close as he’d expected it to be and also why it hadn’t made any noise yet; Naruto was sound asleep in his chair, head lolled back in a way that would definitely be painful when he woke up.

Oh, and he was snoring.

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke contemplated leaving him as he was and going to check if he could find someone to discharge him. On the other hand, Naruto looked a complete mess upon closer inspection. There were dark circles underneath his eyes, his hair was greasy and knowing the idiot, he probably hadn’t moved far from Sasuke. Which meant that he probably _had_ been out of it for a couple of days.

Running his eyes over tan features, cringing slightly at the string of drool by the corner of his mouth, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of helpless concern. Naruto looked so exhausted, much worse than Sasuke felt, and most likely it was his fault. Ever since they arrived Naruto had seemed less energetic somehow, something that had been gnawing at him no matter how much he’d tried to ignore it.

With a frustrated shake of his head, Sasuke realized that the emotions that had flowed freely in that strange place had the audacity to continue in reality as well. He was worried, and he didn’t like it one bit.

Leaning over, clicking his tongue when the needles tugged at his arm, Sasuke flicked Naruto’s cheek.

“Wake up,” he ordered, watching in satisfaction as the other first looked like he was about to object and go back to sleep, then jumped out of the chair and all but landed on top of him.

“Sasuke! You’re awake!”

He raised an eyebrow mockingly, but Naruto’s grin was huge, blue eyes sparkling with happiness of such an amount that Sasuke almost felt embarrassed. Thankfully he could suppress the feeling without much struggle.

“Dammit bastard what the hell were you thinking?! I told you you had to go to the hospital! And instead I had to carry you here!”

Naruto’s happiness had morphed into anger, but Sasuke crossed his arms – as well as he could – and scoffed at him.

Naruto, however, wasn’t fooled.

“Apologize!” he yelled, the tip of his finger a mere centimeter from his nose as he pointed at him.

Casually grabbing the finger to remove it from his vision, Sasuke sighed and stared at the light coming in through the window instead.

“He asked for it,” he said, expecting another outburst from his friend.

Instead, he felt a hand squeeze his and hold it, as Naruto sucked in a shaky breath.

“It’s good you’re acting like normal again,” Naruto mumbled, eyes downcast when Sasuke turned back to him. “It kinda sucked when you were all over the place like that.”

At a loss for words, Sasuke awkwardly stared at Naruto before reclaiming his hand. Of course Naruto had noticed. He just didn’t like how the sad look on his face seemed to cut through his chest, as if he felt guilty for making him worry.

“Whatever,” he muttered, leaning back against the pillow again.

Apparently feeling a bit awkward too, Naruto weighed on his heels before deciding to sit down, pulling the chair closer to the bed. It had already been close, but now his knees bumped into the edge of it.

“Orochimaru said there was something weird going on with your chakra and hormone levels. How do you feel?”

Sasuke wasn’t entirely sure what Naruto meant by hormone levels.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that! I don’t know what he meant I’m just telling you what he said!”

Now that he thought about it, wasn’t hormones something girls suffered from? Kakashi had mentioned it once when he’d complained about Sakura’s behavior. _She’s just suffering from hormones_ Kakashi had said. Was that it? Sasuke would suddenly start behaving like a lovesick twelve-year-old? That wasn’t good. Maybe he should consider staying in this hospital room until he was certain it had passed. It _might_ explain why he’d been thinking that Naruto looked pretty when they’d argued before his spar with Menma though. That was the kind of thoughts you had while suffering from hormones, he supposed. Nothing strange, then.

“I’ll go get him, he better explain it now that you’re awake!”

Naruto started towards the door, then sent an uneasy look back at Sasuke and after a moment of conflict, created a clone that ran off in his stead.

“I’ll survive a minute alone,” Sasuke informed him, but Naruto waved him off with a nervous little laugh.

It made Sasuke wonder if hormones were contagious and if maybe he really should insist that Naruto left the room. On the other hand he’d already stayed next to him for so long it was probably too late. The thought of Naruto acting like a lovesick fool was much more entertaining than he himself doing it, he had to admit.

They spent a few minutes waiting after that, Naruto unable to stay still. Sasuke tried to ignore how those tan hands twitched, sometimes resting in Naruto’s lap, sometimes on the bed, sometimes fiddling with the sheets as if they needed correcting.

“I changed your bandage,” Naruto eventually informed him, in the midst of smoothing out the bed sheet next to Sasuke’s left hand.

“Okay.”

“Your mark was kind of, umm, changing size.”

Sasuke stared at him, confused. Why the hell hadn’t he said so from the beginning?

“And you didn’t tell me that until now because…?”

“Oh, well, I guess I forgot.” Naruto chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “I had to give you lots of chakra, too.”

Two things hit Sasuke at once. One was that the warm, soothing feeling that took away the pain had been Naruto’s chakra, and the other was that at the mention of it, a wave of longing crashed over him.

What. The. Hell.

“It was the only thing that worked!” Naruto yelled, flustered as if he was the one embarrassed, rather than Sasuke should be. “The painkillers didn’t, I mean what the hell was up with that!”

“Oh. Well I guess my body mistakes it for poison and tries to get rid of it as fast as possible.”

“That’s stupid!”

Shrugging, Sasuke stared up at the ceiling and tried to pretend the memory of Naruto’s chakra wasn’t heating up his body all on its own. Luckily Orochimaru chose that moment to enter the room, practically dragged in there by the clone.

“Hello again,” he greeted them with, his smile a lot less creepy than what Sasuke had gotten used to with the snake sannin, which kind of had the effect of being creepy by lacking it. “Did you sleep well?”

“Oh come on, just tell us what was wrong with him!” Naruto groaned, the clone agreeing loudly.

“Yes, alright. Get rid of that one, first,” Orochimaru sighed and pointed at the clone. Once Naruto had done as told, he continued. “Sasuke, I’m going to ask you a couple of question, and it’s important that you answer them truthfully. Nothing you say will leave your journal, alright? But I can’t say what’s been happening unless you do.”

Staring at him, Sasuke contemplated his options. He didn’t trust Orochimaru not to tell anyone about his answers, and Naruto looked like he was about to suffocate from holding his concern back.

“It’s fine,” he said, and surprisingly didn’t feel so bad about it.

“Sasuke-“

“I said it’s _fine_ ,” he repeated, “I won’t answer anything I don’t want to.”

“Let’s not waste any time,” the medic nin interrupted whatever Naruto’s answer would have been with. “Sasuke, have you experienced traumatic events in your past? You don’t need to specify.”

He nodded, thankful for the last part. He might be feeling fairly good at the moment, but talking about his family wasn’t something he ever enjoyed.

“Have you ever been diagnosed with a mental illness?”

Sasuke stared at him, not sure what to say. Orochimaru must have noticed his hesitation, because he added another question.

“You _do_ have mental as well as physical exams regularly, right?”

He glanced at Naruto, whose lips were thinned into a tight line.

“I guess not,” he replied with, thinking back on Tobirama’s explanation for the curse of hatred.

Did that count? But that was all about losing love and turning evil with hatred… Well, in a way that could be considered an illness, he supposed. He hadn’t been feeling like himself at all, every decision clouded over by the darkness. If he’d ever been cured of it was another thing entirely.

“I see,” Orochimaru mumbled, a contemplative look on his face. “And how are you feeling now, compared to in your past? In general and when thinking about the traumatic events you experienced.”

Well, that was an odd question in Sasuke’s opinion. Not to mention how annoying it was that people here seemed to be so obsessed with how he felt all the time. No one ever asked that back in his own dimension. Well, besides Naruto and sometimes Sakura.

“I haven’t really had time to compare yet,” he said, because it was the truth. “But it’s strangely easy to talk about it like this.”

“Try thinking about something that usually makes you angry,” Orochimaru suggested.

Naruto seemed about to protest, but Orochimaru held up a slim hand to hold him back. Frowning, Sasuke reluctantly decided to do as told. He closed his eyes, and imagined someone talking shit about Itachi. He didn’t want to pick something worse than that, but there had been a time in his life when the mere thought of someone badmouthing his brother had caused incontrollable anger to threaten to consume him. But it had never been enough, he’d never been angry _enough_ , never strong _enough_ , and it had always left him feeling frustrated that people would never come to understand him.

Even now there was anger simmering inside him, but that was just it. It was only _simmering_ , not boiling. He was angry but he was also able to think rationally, to contemplate his anger and control it. There wasn’t much of it, either.

So he tried thinking of something worse. He thought of his fight with Itachi, thought of all the times he’d lied to him, thought of the third Hokage admitting they had forced Itachi into murdering his family, thought of the night he’d found his parents dead…

“Sasuke…”

He hadn’t noticed Naruto moving closer until he felt him awkwardly run a thumb along his cheek, wiping off the tears he hadn’t noticed running from his eyes. He didn’t understand. Why was he crying? He was supposed to be _angry_ , and he gritted his teeth to make it stop but only managed to force down a sob.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” he asked, not enjoying in the slightest how his voice broke a little as the memory of Itachi’s last words flashed through his memories like it had happened yesterday.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t say there’s anything wrong with you,” Orochimaru told him calmly, his expression thoughtful when Sasuke glared at him through the tears. “Of course, we’ll have to do a thorough evaluation later, but it seems to me as if previously, there were certain barriers blocking you from fully experiencing your emotions. Connected to your Sharingan, but that’s just a guess. When you first came in we ran some tests, and certain hormone levels were too low, while others were too high. They seem to have been balanced out, somehow.”

Sasuke inhaled shakily, pushing Naruto away because honestly he was feeling a bit crowded right now. Drying his tears with the back of his hand, he wondered if that meant he would randomly burst into tears whenever from now on. Nothing about that was appealing to him.

“I’ve never seen anything like this happening before, but I wouldn’t worry if I were you. Of course, emotions can be uncomfortable and not always enjoyable, but they’re certainly healthier in their intended doses than bottling things up.”

He was starting to suspect that Orochimaru was finding this amusing for some reason, but couldn’t bring forth any real force behind his glare.

“Why don’t you rest for a bit and do some thinking, and I’ll be back later with Tsunade. Okay?”

Another one of those non-creepy but still creepy smiles, and Sasuke found himself alone with Naruto again.

“You okay?” Naruto asked, and Sasuke huffed and sank lower in the bed, trying to disappear through the mattress.

“Are you ever going to stop asking me that?”

“Probably not,” Naruto confessed, cheeks slightly red.

“Fucking great.”

xxx

“Well?” Tsunade demanded, tapping a pencil against her hospital office desk.

“He’s awake,” Orochimaru told her, rubbing a hand tiredly over his face. “And stable.”

“So our guess was correct?”

“I can’t tell yet, but yes, probably. This isn’t some mere disease.”

Rolling the pencil between her fingers in deep thought, Tsunade took her time replying. Orochimaru would have appreciated a bit more efficiency, considering he’d just worked for twelve hours straight, but of course the Hokage wouldn’t appreciate any comments. His pet snake wouldn’t appreciate his lateness either, but at this point it was more than used to it.

“So it’s safe to assume they aren’t going anywhere soon. I don’t understand why they had to come _here_ of all places. Unless it is as we think, and they’re here to replace our own Ashura and Indra.”

“Maybe we’re in need of an extra pair.”

Heaving a sigh, the fifth Hokage dropped the pencil onto her desk and stretched.

“That would be even worse. I’m not looking forward to something similar happening to us as with my grandfather and Madara. Especially not with the elections coming up. We’ll have to tighten security and make sure everyone is in top shape. The hospital, too.”

“Of course.” He always enjoyed having more work to do. “I’m guessing I’m in charge of their check-ups?”

“Make them every second day. And make sure you get as much information about them as possible. We need to know everything, history, future, weaknesses and strengths.”

Sending a sad thought towards his research that would have to be put on hold _again_ , Orochimaru nodded in resignation.

“You know, we _could_ just send them away,” he suggested.

“No, I already thought of that, but we need them right where we can see them. And most of all, we need them to care about us. If Sasuke can defeat the kyuubi with just one blow and not even using his Sharingan… I’d hate to have them turn on us.”

Silently agreeing, he had to admit he was a little curious to try and figure out the truth about the two young ninja he’d been assigned. They would certainly make for some powerful enemies, and he could only hope they’d been brought there as help rather than forces of destruction.

“Keep them where they are for another hour, and I’ll arrange things before talking to them.”

“Assuming they can be ‘kept’,” he mumbled, but turned on his heels to do as told.

Hopefully Naruto would make sure Sasuke stayed put. He didn’t seem like the patient type, and Orochimaru was only too used to his patients trying to escape the boredom of waiting to heal properly.

Maybe he should check on them just to be sure.

xxx

“Ughhhh, it’s been an hour already! Where’s that old hag?!”

“You’re the one who said we’d definitely wait.”

“Because what else could we do!”

Naruto was by the window, the sun barely peeking up over the horizon now. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and he’d put on his jumpsuit jacket claiming to feel cold. Sasuke wasn’t entirely sure why he cared, but there was just something so unappealing about it that he’d caught himself on the verge of asking him to remove it several times the past hour.

“Leave? Not that we have anywhere in particular to go.”

“We could go for ramen.”

“No.”

“What! Why do you hate ramen so much anyway?!”

“I don’t hate it, I just don’t want to eat it seven days a week. Do you really lack imagination that much that you can’t think of anywhere else to go?”

 Naruto glared at him, brightly yellow eyebrows furrowed as his lips pursed in annoyance even though they’d had this exact same argument a hundred times before.

“Ramen is the best food in the entire world,” he growled, but Sasuke only rolled his eyes.

“You say the same thing every time I cook for you.”

He had no idea why he said it, but it felt very satisfying to see Naruto’s skin darken as he blushed, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as he tried to come up with a retort without making it even worse.

“Shut up,” he snapped, crossing his arms and huffing. “I can stop saying that if it makes you happier.”

It was childish, but Sasuke still didn’t like the thought of it.

“You either compliment the food or make your own, dumbass.”

“I could totally make my own!”

“Instant ramen doesn’t count.”

“Why are you being so mean,” Naruto whined, stomping over to the bed when the only reply he got was a shrug. “Here I watch over you for three days and feed you my chakra, not eating or sleeping or anything, and all you can do is be mean to me!”

He threw his hands up over his head before letting them fall to his sides. Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke pretended there wasn’t a small stir in his chest at the thought of Naruto worrying so much over him that he couldn’t eat or sleep. Why would there be a stir anyway? Maybe it was another symptom because of those hormones. He should probably ask Orochimaru to check them again to make sure he didn’t miss some of them being too high again. Like that twelve-year-old stalker hormone. Just thinking of it made him almost shiver with disgust.

“Does it really hurt you to say thank you for once? Or maybe apologize for getting yourself sent to the hospital again!”

“I really don’t think this was my fault.”

“Well whose fault was it then?!”

They stared at each other, and Sasuke recalled a mysterious fireplace and annoying questions, wondering if that was just part of his weird dreams while asleep or if he should maybe tell Naruto about it.

But he only shrugged, because it’s not like he knew the answer, and it was better not to worry Naruto about strange old ladies who wanted to talk about sticks. Besides, it’s not like Naruto actually expected him to apologize anyway, as he had made clear earlier.

Resigned to waiting for a while longer he made himself more comfortable on the bed, catching himself quirking his lips in amusement when Naruto started muttering about ungrateful bastards and late grannies.

“I can hear you,” he commented, and Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. It should have been annoying, but Sasuke was glad that Naruto seemed to have relaxed and acted less serious. It made him feel less on edge, too. “As always you need to work on your insults.”

Releasing a loud, dramatic groan, Naruto got on his knees and faceplanted into the mattress.

“I could sleep like this,” he mumbled after a few seconds, the words muffled.

“It sounds like she’s finally here, though.”

Sure enough there were faint clicks of heels in the corridor outside, growing louder before stopping outside their door.

“Good to see you’re both still in here,” Tsunade said as she stepped inside, closing the door softly behind her. “I’ll just check your stats quickly and you’ll be good to go.”

Naruto perked up at hearing that but remained kneeling on the floor, now with his arms crossed on the mattress.

“So there really isn’t anything to worry about anymore?” he asked, smiling brightly when Tsunade made a confirmative sound.

“Well, nothing more than before he collapsed, at least.”

“You just had to say that, didn’t you…”

She patted Naruto’s head as she walked past him to remove Sasuke’s IV, efficiently healing his bruised skin. She then proceeded to place two hands on Sasuke’s head, closing her eyes and concentrating for maybe two minutes. While he could feel her chakra buzz, he couldn’t say it felt strange. Not that he enjoyed having someone look into his brain, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

“How long have you had your Sharingan?” she asked after finishing, stepping back to observe him.

“Since I was twelve.”

Tsunade looked surprised but didn’t question the age.

“And the Mangekyo?”

“Sixteen.”

She nodded, placing one hand over his eyes instead. Again her chakra gently invaded his body, almost tickling him.

“Try using it,” she told him, stepping back again. When he gave her a look filled with doubt, she merely urged him on with a wave of her hand. “It should be fine.”

Staring at the opposite wall, he summoned chakra into his eyeballs and focused on the pressure that always followed, enhancing his vision.

It was just that, the usual pressure wouldn’t come. Instead he could feel a slight tightness behind his eyes, not uncomfortable per se but certainly not what he expected.

“Did it work?” he asked, unsure even though his sight was exactly like how his Sharingan usually made it.

“Yeah!” Naruto breathed out, staring intently at him.

It was then Sasuke remembered that ever since he’d received the Rinnegan, his Sharingan would just automatically switch into Mangekyo in his right eye, and Rinnegan in his left.

“Just the Sharingan?”

“U-huh. That’s kinda weird, isn’t it?”

Concentrating again, Sasuke switched to Mangekyo, again feeling the lack of painful pressure he was used to. It was strange, because he mostly used it while fighting or training, so it’s not like he ever reflected too deeply on the feeling of it. Still, it was definitely supposed to feel less comfortable. Usually his jaw would tense and he’d have to shake off a slight nausea right after the switch was made, but right now he felt perfectly fine. He felt like he could keep it up for hours.

“You can stop now, I think it’s safe to assume it does work. Try summoning your sage chakra instead.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Naruto asked, but Sasuke had already brought it forth, feeling it respond eagerly as it flowed into his left hand.

“I guess it was just a temporary thing?”

Naruto was gaping at him, snapping his mouth shut when Sasuke gave him a look.

“Then what the hell was all that fainting for, huh?!”

“You try it,” he told Naruto, who bit his lip in a nervous gesture.

Frowning, Naruto held his right hand in front of him and summoned his chakra, but immediately let out a pained shout and jumped backwards.

“Fuck, that hurt!”

“Seems like it’s only Sasuke who got his powers back,” Tsunade observed calmly, stretching a hand out to help Naruto up before checking his wrist for damage.

“You don’t sound surprised,” Sasuke noted, not too happy that Naruto’s wrist seemed like it had suffered again.

“Try not to use it too much tonight,” she advised Naruto after she was done healing him, turning to Sasuke. “Nothing about you two surprises me anymore. Surprises are for those who don’t prepare in advance.”

“Lame,” Naruto whispered, and Sasuke couldn’t stop the chuckle from escaping his mouth, slapping a hand over it in horror once he realized what had happened.

Naruto stared in wide-eyed shock at him, too, but Tsunade didn’t seem like she had noticed at all.

“Anyway, Sasuke, you’ll continue staying with Mikoto and Fugaku, and you’ll help out at the police headquarters, so listen to Fugaku’s instructions. Naruto, I’ve found a job for you as well as another place to stay, since there’s not enough room with Menma needing his room back.”

It took a moment or two before Sasuke could shake off his stupor and process her words.

“Wait, what?”

“You heard me. If you’re going to stay here for god knows how long, you might as well earn your stay. You’re free to discuss your schedules, but keep in mind you’re basically freeloaders. We’ll help you, of course, but we can’t just let you leech off of tax money. Understand?”

They both nodded, Naruto seeming to have ignored Sasuke’s little accident in favor of listening to Tsunade.

“And what’s my job?”

“You know Iruka? He’s running the orphanage here, you’ll help him with whatever he needs, such as playing with the kids and going grocery shopping. There’s an empty apartment in the staff building, so you can stay there. There aren’t a lot of kids currently so it’ll just be the two of you. Is that alright?”

Naruto blinked at her, appearing to be at a loss for words. Sasuke couldn’t blame him considering what he knew of Naruto’s back story with Iruka, and how they’d both grown up alone just like him.

“Um, sure,” he eventually agreed, and Tsunade left them after giving him the address and making sure Sasuke was ready to leave.

“So,” Naruto said, looking as awed as he previously had once they were alone again. “You-“

“Don’t.”

“But-“

“Not a word.”

Naruto was about to object but thought better of it when Sasuke got up and headed for the door, catching up to him instead in the corridor. They walked in silence until they got outside, Sasuke breathing in the fresh evening air with a sense of relief.

“But Sasuke I can’t believe you just-“

“I said _not a word_ ,” he hissed threateningly, because there was just no way in hell he’d just laughed at one of the idiot’s stupid jokes.

He blamed it on the hormones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke vs Hormones??? Naruto as a professional babysitter??? When will the madness end?! 
> 
> Just kidding, it'll all be fine. I'm just gonna make Sasuke suffer first... ah yes, it's going to be amazing. Stay tuned for the obligatory meeting between Sasuke and Charasuke!!


	19. Three's a crowd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet, probably. Idk I might wake up tomorrow and feel an incredible urge to rewrite the second half but... *shrugs*
> 
> I know I'm behind on replies, sorry about that. Have fun with the chapter. It's not entirely proofread so I'll fix mistakes later.

“I’m going that way,” Naruto said, pausing at an intersection and watching Sasuke carefully through the semi-darkness.

“Alright.”

“Yeah.”

“Great.”

“So umm…”

“See you tomorrow,” Sasuke said and continued walking.

“Hey! You can’t just leave!”

“Well why not?” There was an annoyed scowl on Sasuke’s face, his hands shoved down his pockets. “I need a shower and we can talk tomorrow.”

“Well yeah but…” Honestly Naruto wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. It just didn’t feel right to separate so suddenly, when Sasuke had just woken up and everything. “I’ll come over after I’ve checked everything with Iruka?”

Sasuke stared at him for a few long seconds, then sighed and turned around again.

“Do whatever you want.”

Grinning to himself, Naruto headed in the direction of the orphanage instead. He felt immensely better now that Sasuke was okay again and there was nothing wrong with him.

_Yeah, now you just need to worry about yourself._

“Yeah yeah,” he muttered, irritated that Kurama would always break his good mood with those little comments of his.

Of course there were lots of things to worry about, he knew that. But with Sasuke back at full power everything seemed much easier to solve. And if Sasuke didn’t have any barriers to his emotions anymore, maybe Naruto could actually make him laugh for real. He really wanted that. It sucked that Sasuke wasn’t as expressive as he’d been when they were younger, because it felt like he was always holding back, afraid of getting hurt again. Naruto wanted Sasuke to be happy, so yeah the crying part hadn’t been that great to watch but at least he seemed less in pain and more at peace with things.

He grinned again. Sasuke was his best friend so anything that meant less pain for him meant less pain for Naruto.

_Sure, you keep telling yourself that._

“What the fuck?”

But Kurama ignored him after that, so he only shrugged and hurried up a little.

The orphanage wasn’t far away, squeezed in between tall buildings but with a decently sized yard behind it from what he could see. It was a three-storey building with a homely, inviting feel about it, enclosed by a nice wooden fence and with a slightly cracked stone path leading up to the front door.

He liked it already.

His thoughts had been so occupied with Sasuke that he hadn’t reflected much on his new workplace – and home, he supposed. But the fact that this Konoha had an orphanage run by Iruka of all people was really nice. Sometimes he’d imagined growing up in an orphanage instead of alone, and of course Sasuke would have been there, too. And now, standing just outside the wooden gate, looking into the warm light streaming out from the windows, his heart ached a little for that fantasy.

Swallowing with some difficulty, he stepped inside and carefully closed the gate behind him. He hoped this place was as inviting on the inside as it was on the outside, and that Iruka wouldn’t have changed too much.

xxx

Sasuke knocked politely on the door, choosing to wait for someone to open rather than just waltz right in. He couldn’t shake off a slightly nervous feeling, because he _had_ just spent three days out cold in the hospital, and must have caused a lot of trouble for his parents already.

No, not his parents.

He listened intently as footsteps approached the door, guessing they belonged to Mikoto. Sure enough the door flung open to reveal her, and before he knew it he was enveloped in a tight hug.

“I’m so glad you’re alright,” she told him, her tone of voice heartfelt as she held him close.

He took a deep, shaky breath, nose filled with her sweet scent and the unmistakable smell of food. She must be in the middle of cooking, and his stomach growled at the thought.

“Hungry?” she asked as she pulled away, still holding his arms and looking at him in concern. “I can’t believe they don’t feed their patients enough at the hospital. Come in, sweetie, dinner’s almost ready but I have some fruit if you want, it’ll still be a couple of minutes.”

Slightly overwhelmed by the emotions this dragged out of him, he nodded rather than trusting his voice and followed her. Taking off his shoes he pulled on a pair of guest slippers, timidly returning her warm smile when she linked her arm with his and led him into the kitchen.

“We were all so worried about you,” she continued, squeezing his arm. “Poor Naruto barely slept at all! And none of the medics could tell what was wrong with you, what a mess! Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to be up and running? You look a little pale.”

She caressed his cheek with her free hand, again looking at him with deep concern in her pretty eyes.

“I’m fine,” he automatically told her, biting the inside of his cheek as he tried to make sense of the conflicting feelings of relief and guilt.

It was a relief to see her care about him, but at the same time that made him feel guilty for making her worry. Yes, that was it.

“Let’s get you some dinner, then a nice bath and off to bed. I’ll make sure Fugaku won’t make you work until you’re perfectly fine again.”

He nodded, feeling very tired all of a sudden. That didn’t sound so bad in his opinion.

xxx

Iruka had given him a brilliant smile after opening the door and was now eagerly showing him around the house.

“This is the living room, as you can see it doubles as a playroom too. I haven’t had time to clean it yet after today so it’s a little messy. The kids have to help with cleaning but they’re not always that good at it.”

The older man chuckled fondly, and Naruto couldn’t help but smile as he saw a toy duck on the large sofa and a picture book thrown onto a small play table.

“We keep the toys in the boxes over there, everything is shared but of course they all have their favorites. Come on, the room for the older kids is through here.”

Iruka had explained that there were seven kids currently residing at the orphanage, the youngest a three-year-old and the oldest being eleven. All the kids were or would be studying at the Academy, so once they turned twelve they would be living with their jounin instructor instead. If they passed the test, that is. But generally the kids at the orphanage showed good results.

In an adjoining room, there were study desks and bookcases with cozy armchairs next to them.

“They all use the same TV, but the older ones can stay up longer and get to watch it after the younger ones. But this is where they can get some quiet for studying, if they don’t feel like studying in their rooms. I try to help them as much as I can, but luckily I’ve got a couple older kids coming back here to help them. Sai, for example. You know him, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Nodding, Iruka took him out through another door that led into the corridor where the kitchen was also located. Currently the kids were finishing their dinner and then the younger ones would be sent to bed, and the older ones could have some free time.

“He and Shin were always hanging out here even after they got too old and moved out, but now Shin is busy with work so it’s mostly just Sai.”

Naruto blinked in recognition of the name, then smiled a little to himself. It was good to know that at least in this reality, Sai and his sort-of brother were able to grow up normally together.

Instead of heading into the kitchen, they walked upstairs to the second floor (the top one held spare rooms in case more children would arrive) and Iruka showed him the kids’ rooms. They all shared rooms, two and two, but the oldest had one to herself. He still hadn’t been introduced to them, and he was a little nervous of what they’d think of him. It’s not like he had much experience with kids besides Konohamaru and his gang, and that was ages ago. He really hoped Iruka wouldn’t leave him alone with all of them and expect him to know what to do.

“Natsuko and Daisuke are in this one, it’s next to mine since they’re the youngest.”

The room was rather small but cute, and the beds had safety railings. Iruka had told him they were the only siblings, and that they were finally settling in to their new life here. Naruto wondered what had happened to their parents, but didn’t ask. Instead he glanced at the drawings covering the wall between the beds.

“Katsumi is teaching them to draw, so they hung up every drawing in the order they made them. Cute, isn’t it?”

Naruto nodded, smiling back when Iruka beamed at him. It was very obvious that the other man cared a lot for the kids, and it made Naruto feel both warmth and a slight sadness. He tried to push the thought down, but there had been many instances when he was a kid where he’d wondered why he couldn’t live with Iruka, since they were both alone.

“Alright then,” Iruka continued as they exited the room again. “The one back there is mine, and then in order is Katsumi and Yoshie’s, Takumi and Mitsuru’s, and opposite is Asuna’s. Yours is downstairs, so you don’t need to be woken up by the kids during the night. Of course if something happens I’ll need your help but usually they’re pretty well-behaved.”

“Okay, sure, no problem.”

Well, that was a relief. Not that he minded helping but he really wouldn’t know what to do with a kid waking him up in the middle of the night. Now he just needed to somehow learn their names and, well, how to care for them.

“Let’s go say hi to them and then I’ll show you your room, I’m sure you’re tired after everything that happened with Sasuke and want to settle in. Have you had dinner?”

He shook his head, and Iruka immediately frowned, though he started walking back downstairs.

“Well we can’t have you go to bed hungry, can we?” Then he smiled, and patted Naruto’s shoulder in a friendly gesture. “You never need to be hungry as long as you live here, just take whatever you want in the kitchen as long as it’s not the ingredients for that day’s meals, okay? You’ll eat breakfast and lunch with us, and dinner on weekends. You get weekday evenings off so you can choose if you want to eat with us or somewhere else, okay? I’ll write down your schedule properly later.”

Honestly, Naruto was just happy to have a job that would distract him from everything else happening, and having most evenings off meant he could spend the time with Sasuke which was nice. It was a whole lot better than just being bored like his first days here when Sasuke had been working.

“Thanks,” he said, meaning it because free meals at work meant he didn’t need to feel like he was leeching off someone.

“You do look a bit tired though, why don’t you rest tomorrow morning and you can start around lunch? Only Daisuke and Natsuko are home during the day, everyone else is at the Academy so it’s pretty calm then and we can go over everything.”

“Really? I mean I don’t mind starting right away but…”

Iruka smiled, pausing outside the kitchen.

“I wouldn’t want to overwork you on the first day already! I know the kids can be a handful but I hope you get along well. They’re a little sad that the previous helper had to quit early.”

“I’ll do my best!” Naruto promised, grinning and giving Iruka his most reassuring thumbs up. He might not know much about kids, but it couldn’t be that hard, could it?

The other man chuckled, looking very much the same as the Iruka Naruto knew back home, the scar present across his nose and hair in its usual spiky ponytail. It made him miss him, and he wondered what he was doing. He hadn’t thought much of everyone left at home, too preoccupied with worrying about Sasuke. Now he wondered if they were alright, if they thought he and Sasuke had disappeared intentionally or if they were trying to find them. Sure, it hadn’t been very long, but still. He’d missed his birthday and the one year anniversary. Sakura was going to kill him when they got back for leaving her without a date for the evening party.

“Naruto, is everything alright?”

He hadn’t noticed how his smile had faltered, and that he’d been staring off into the distance.

“Ah, sorry,” he quickly apologized, rubbing his neck. “You just seem really similar to Iruka at home so I…”

“Oh, I do? Tsunade mentioned things were slightly different here.”

“Well, yeah, I guess. But never mind, I’m starving so let’s eat!”

Iruka’s worried glance lingered for a bit, but was then erased by another smile.

“Great, the kids really want to meet you!”

Taking a deep breath, Naruto followed him into the kitchen.

xxx

Sasuke sat by the kitchen table, resting his chin in one hand as he listened to the muffled sounds of his mother’s voice and what had to be the other Sasuke’s. Did he really sound like that? Well, soon he’d find out properly. Pouting, he flicked at a crumb on the tabletop, thinking that it really wasn’t fair how much everyone had worried about this other Sasuke. And they wouldn’t stop talking about him, either. If someone told him how childish he acted compared to his counterpart one more time he’d break something. Probably that person’s nose. That wouldn’t count as unnecessary fighting, would it?

He tensed, listening intently as they neared the kitchen.

“Let’s get you some dinner, then a nice bath and off to bed. I’ll make sure Fugaku won’t make you work until you’re perfectly fine again,” his mother said, the other Sasuke not replying verbally.

Then they rounded the corner, and Sasuke’s eyes instantly narrowed. He could only hope they really looked identical because the copy meeting his eyes certainly didn’t seem eighteen. No, he looked _mature_ and _serious_ and he was wearing a standard ninja shirt with standard ninja pants and Sasuke hated him already.

He also looked exhausted but he could ignore that in favor of glaring at him. Who did he think he was, coming here and nestling into _his_ family?!

“Sweetie, why don’t you sit down a bit, here’s an apple if you want.”

His mother was smiling, one hand resting caringly on the other Sasuke’s arm while she handed him the fruit. What the hell, _he_ was never allowed to eat fruit before dinner!

“Thank you,” the other Sasuke replied quietly, accepting it and walking over to sit down opposite of him.

He kept up his glare. He’d been looking forward to meeting him at first, but after the past days of hearing nothing but _Sasuke this, Sasuke that_ , none of it in relation to himself, he thought he had a right to be a little pissed at this copy.

Okay fine he’d promised to be nice but that was _before_ the whole thing with Sasuke knocking out the kyuubi with seemingly no effort, and everybody and their mother fangirling over it. So what if he couldn’t do the same? He wasn’t some freakishly strong copy from another dimension.

…damn that shirt was tight. He’d been observing the other Sasuke and for some unfathomable reason his eyes had traveled downwards to his chest, lingering there as the other Sasuke took a bite of the apple. Naruto’s muscles had been drool-worthy for sure and this other Sasuke didn’t look much worse off, from what he could see through the thin material hugging his chest. Who the hell allowed this copy of him to have a chest like that?!

Dismayed, he raised his eyes again only to cringe at dark ones watching him with one eyebrow cocked in a questioning manner. He didn’t seem to have caught him ogling though, and appeared to be curious more than anything else.

“What,” he asked flatly, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair.

The other Sasuke didn’t reply, averting his eyes with a shrug and continuing to eat. Why did he have to look so cool? He was supposed to have been asleep for three days, you don’t wake up from that looking _cool_ , but this guy seemed to have this air around him that demanded attention and respect, and honestly Sasuke was a little in awe. There was just something about his body language that was both dangerous, calming, and quite a bit alluring.

He was going crazy, wasn’t he? _That’s what happens when you don’t get laid for three days_ , he thought sullenly to himself.

“Sasuke, can you bring me an oven mitt?” Mikoto asked, and both of them stiffened.

The other Sasuke glanced at him, appearing to hesitate, and letting out a groan Sasuke got up to find it.

“Oh dear,” Mikoto said, turning towards them with a small smile. “It’s going to be quiet difficult to separate you, isn’t it?”

“Whatever,” he muttered, ignoring the disapproving look she gave him as she accepted the oven mitt.

“Hey guys!” Shisui greeted them, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. “Oh, Sasuke, you’re back!”

The other Sasuke nodded, and he wondered if he’d forgotten how to talk or was just too good for words.

Wait, that came out wrong.

Sending another glare at the copy when Shisui sank into a chair next to him he decided not to greet him back, not that he noticed.

“You two don’t look as similar now that you’re next to each other,” Shisui commented, and Sasuke increased his glare.

“Like I’d want us to be,” he muttered, and the other Sasuke glanced at him again.

“Still, they’re not that easy to separate, especially with the same name and everything,” Mikoto chimed in. “Honey, would you help me set the table?” she added towards Sasuke.

Suppressing another groan he got up again, trying to tune out Shisui as he happily started telling the other Sasuke what he’d missed while he was in the hospital. There wasn’t much to tell, but he still didn’t like how everyone was so cozy around him. No one seemed to think the whole thing was suspicious, at least not besides Menma. Not that he was sure he believed Menma’s theories, but if they were as strong as they said he couldn’t help but feel a bit intimidated by it.

He’d always been the weak one in the clan, and now some random copy of him shows up and is ten times stronger than even Obito? No, that definitely wasn’t fair.

Soon Itachi and Fugaku joined them as well, both expressing their concern over the other Sasuke’s health. It irked him how he always replied so quietly, almost as if he was hesitant to talk to them. And he would keep glancing at Sasuke throughout dinner, staying quiet for most of it. He tried to ignore him and focus on his brother instead, because while he’d been home for three days now, it was pretty rare for them to spend time together and he wanted to hear more about his travels with Akatsuki.

“With all those questions, I’m starting to wonder if you’re planning to join them, Sasu-chan,” Shisui said teasingly after a while, earning himself a murderous glare.

“Why are you even still here, you’ve got your own apartment,” he snapped back, not appreciating the nickname and the jab at his abilities.

No one realistically expected him to be able to join them, he was nothing compared to Shisui or Itachi, and it wasn’t fun to constantly be reminded of that.

“Be nice, Shisui,” Itachi murmured, but Shisui laughed a little and pecked his cheek.

Ugh, Sasuke could throw up for less than the sappy way they looked at each other. As nice as it was that they were back together, he was trying to _eat_.

“Still, it’s a good nickname, I think it suits him,” Shisui continued, throwing an amused look at him.

“I’d say he’s a little old for it,” his father disagreed, but his smile was slightly amused too.

Why did they always have to pick on him?!

“I don’t need a nickname,” he complained, poking at the food with his chopsticks.

“We can come up with something later,” Itachi tried to mediate, and Sasuke pouted at him.

He could also feel the other Sasuke’s eyes on him, but once he turned to meet them they went back to focus on the plate in front of him. It was a little unnerving that he was so quiet, because it was impossible to guess what he was thinking. He’d already finished eating, faster than the rest of them since he wasn’t talking, and Sasuke wondered if maybe he really was tired.

Which brought him to a question he’d been meaning to ask.

“Where’s he going to sleep?”

Everyone became silent and looked at him, then at Mikoto.

“Well,” she started slowly, “Shisui’s apartment isn’t available right now but in a week or so he and Itachi will move in there so that leaves Itachi’s room empty.”

“I can’t just throw out the guy renting it from me,” Shisui explained, scratching his chin. “It’s pretty nice living here, though,” he added with a bright smile towards Mikoto.

“Flattery won’t get you dessert,” she teased, and Sasuke rolled his eyes because she still hadn’t answered his question.

“Well? We don’t have a guest room.”

The other Sasuke was finally showing some real interest, watching her intently but not appearing to have anything to say.

“Sorry,” she said with an apologetic grimace, “you’ll have to share for a short while. At least the bed is big enough for two and-“

“ _What_?!” he shouted, not sure he could believe his ears.

“Sasuke,” Fugaku said in a warning tone, and he instantly deflated.

Great. Just great. Not only was the guy the new family favorite, he had to share a _bed_ with him too?!

“And you’re okay with this?” he asked the other Sasuke, who was still staring at Mikoto but now forced his gaze away from her to settle on him instead.

For a few moments they simply stared at each other, the other Sasuke’s expression completely blank as if he didn’t want to show exactly how he felt about it. Then he raised an eyebrow, as if mocking his reaction to their sleeping arrangements.

“It’s just sleeping,” he said, and Sasuke had no idea how he did it but his voice managed to sound both arrogant and amused and irritated at the same time.

Gritting his teeth he ignored Shisui’s obnoxious laughter, feeling very sorry for himself. Maybe tomorrow he could go ask Tsunade for another long mission.

xxx

Seven pairs of eyes locked on him the moment he entered the kitchen. It was all he could do not to squirm, he’d never enjoyed having people stare at him after all. At least these kids only looked curious, and maybe a little suspicious. One of the older ones was grinning openly at him, his light brown fluffy hair sticking every which way, his plate neatly cleaned except for the vegetables.

“Your clothes look funny,” he said, and Naruto immediately went on the defensive.

“Oh yeah? Well your-“

Iruka stopped him by none too gently elbowing him in the ribs.

“Mitsuru, be nice to Naruto! What have I told you about saying bad things to people?”

“I’m sorry,” Mitsuru said, looking down onto his plate, but the moment Iruka looked away he stuck his tongue out at Naruto.

What the hell was up with this brat?! It hadn’t even been a minute and Naruto already disliked him.

“Okay kids, time for introductions! This is Naruto, he’ll be with us for a while, so try to get along.”

“He looks like Menma,” one of the girls piped up, her face small and round with thin braids on each side.

“Yes, Yoshie, that’s because he’s from an alternate dimension where everything is almost the same as here.”

All the kids immediately widened their eyes, watching him in awe now. Well, except for the tiniest boy who was busy drinking from his cup. Naruto wasn’t so sure it was a good idea to tell them that, but it’s not like he had a choice anymore, so he simply smiled at them and nodded, trying to act natural.

“So you’re actually Menma?” It was Yoshie again, and she was practically jumping up and down in her chair.

“Uh, no, I’m Naruto,” he replied, wondering how the hell he was supposed to explain this.

“They just look the same but they’re different persons. Like twins,” Iruka explained, and Naruto almost cringed at the thought of having Menma as his twin.

Like hell he was related to that rude pervert!

“Well then, why don’t you introduce yourselves to Naruto? Asuna, you can start.”

Asuna was sitting by the end of the table, nodding happily at Iruka. Her hair fell in short, dark curls and her skin was several shades darker than Naruto’s, and she leaned slightly forwards before talking.

“I’m Asuna, I’m eleven years old and I study at the Academy. When I grow up, I want to do missions all over the world!”

Naruto grinned at her, because it was impossible not to since she looked so excited about it. He could remember how excited he’d been on his first mission outside the village… wait, that was when they went to the Land of Waves. Never mind.

“That sounds cool,” he said anyway, and she gave him a pleased smile.

“My turn!” Yoshie shouted and waved her hand at them, which made Mitsuru make funny faces at her causing the tiny boy that Naruto guessed had to be Daisuke to giggle. “I’m Yoshie, I’m seven, and I’m gonna be stronger than everyone else! Let’s have a match tomorrow!”

“Yoshie, don’t fight the new helper,” Iruka sighed, and Naruto wondered if this was something that happened often. “And please wait for your turn next time. Okay, Takumi you’re next.”

The boy named Takumi blushed, hiding his face behind chin-length light blond hair.

“I’m Takumi,” he started, mumbling so quietly that Naruto barely heard him. “I’m ten, I study at the Academy too.”

Naruto smiled encouragingly at him, thinking he reminded him of Hinata when they were kids. He’d used to think she was pretty weird, but this kid seemed sweet. At least less loud compared to the others.

“Mitsuru,” Iruka said, and the boy who apparently held a dislike for orange crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

“I’m Mitsuru, I’m ten, and I think you look stupid.”

Naruto bit back a retort as Iruka chastised him, again. What the hell was up with this kid, huh?

“But he’s a ninja, why is he wearing orange!” Mitsuru defended himself with, looking annoyed now.

“Oh shut up, Mitsuru!” Yoshie snapped, but quieted down when Iruka sent her a look.

“Hmph, I’ll tell you why!” Naruto spoke up, not going to listen to kids talking shit about his clothes anymore. “It’s because I’m the strongest ninja ever, so I don’t need to hide because no one can beat me anyway!”

It was a lie, obviously – Sasuke could probably beat him if he really tried. He didn’t expect the kids to laugh though, Mitsuru looking at him like he was an idiot.

“Calm down, everyone.” Iruka wasn’t looking pleased, and Naruto hoped he hadn’t done something bad. “Mitsuru, introduce yourself again and _this_ time you better behave.”

He didn’t look nearly as scary as the Iruka at home, however, and Naruto had to clench his fists when Mitsuru scoffed and sank even lower in his chair.

“Fine, I’m Mitsuru, I’m ten, I study at the Academy and my favorite subject is to study on my own because the lectures are so boring.”

Iruka cleared his throat threateningly, but Mitsuru only rolled his eyes and ignored him.

“Katsumi,” he sighed, then blinked at the empty chair next to the little girl he’d just addressed. “Where’s Natsuko?”

“I’m here!”

Naruto looked up at the voice coming from above somewhere, finding a small ginger-haired girl perched on top of the fridge.

“How many times have I told you not to climb things indoors?!” Iruka asked her, exasperated, and Naruto wondered when the hell she got up there because he certainly didn’t notice anything. “Come down right now!”

“Don’t wanna!” she pouted, pulling her legs up when Iruka walked over to her.

“Please?” Iruka’s arms were stretched out towards her, but she shook her head, freckled face scrunched up stubbornly.

“I’ll get her,” Naruto offered, easily slipping into bijuu mode and stretching a chakra arm towards her, quickly grabbing her in a secure hold and plopping her down on the chair.

She gaped at him, wonder in her eyes, and Naruto suddenly felt a little embarrassed because everyone was staring at him again but this time with definite surprise and awe.

“Well, that was certainly a handy technique,” Iruka broke the sudden silence with, placing his hands on his hips and giving him a slightly amused look.

Natsuko immediately scrambled off her chair again and ran for the fridge, but Iruka stopped her halfway there and lifted her into his arms.

“I wanna do it again!” she complained, squirming, but Iruka shifted his grip to hold her tighter.

“Oh no you don’t,” he said, sitting down on her chair and placing her securely in his lap. “Why don’t you tell Naruto about yourself, instead?”

She pouted, looking to the side without replying. Iruka sighed again, but there was fondness in his eyes that tugged at Naruto’s heart.

“This is Natsuko, she’s four years old and as you’ve already seen, she’s very good at climbing things.” The small girl in his arms blushed a little at the praise, not fighting his hold anymore. “And that’s Daisuke, her little brother.”

Daisuke blinked slowly at Iruka, tilting his head to the side cutely.

“I’m thwee!” he exclaimed, proudly holding out three fingers at Iruka and giggling when the man nodded at him with a smile.

He had the same ginger hair as his sister but cropped very short, his eyes bright and excited now that everyone’s attention was turned towards him. Despite the bad start, Naruto couldn’t help but think that they all seemed like good kids, and that it was obvious how much they all liked Iruka.

“Can I _finally_ talk now?”

It was Katsumi, and Naruto realized that he’d barely noticed her. Her dark eyes were large as they looked at him pointedly, and there was an intensity to them that reminded him of Sasuke.

“Of course, Katsumi.”

At Iruka’s go-ahead, Katsumi took a deep breath and glanced at Asuna before she started.

“I’m six years old, I study at the Academy, I like drawing and when I grow up, I’m going to marry Asuna.”

She recited the sentence almost as if she’d been rehearsing it before, and well, it was possible they’d all practiced this but either way the last part sent Naruto into a coughing fit. Asuna was looking thoroughly embarrassed but not angry, while Mitsuru rolled his eyes again, none of the other kids looking as if this was a strange thing to say for her.

“Great,” Iruka said, clapping his hands together which was instantly copied by Daisuke. “Why don’t we call it a night and get to know each other better tomorrow!”

Naruto stopped coughing, blinking and feeling a tiny bit disoriented. Was everyone gay in this world or something? Even the kids?!

“Naruto, the food’s still on the stove so please help yourself, I’ll get these little troublemakers into bed.”

He got up, still holding Natsuko but letting her down when she started squirming again, instead grabbing some tissues to clean up Daisuke who had somehow managed to smear sauce over most of himself.

“Okay, sure,” he agreed, standing awkwardly in his spot as the children trooped out of the room, some of them ignoring him and some staring openly until they were out of sight.

He wasn’t sure what to think, feeling a little overwhelmed as he found himself a plate and started eating. Apparently he’d been hungrier than he thought, because three big helpings later he still wasn’t entirely satisfied. He didn’t want to finish all of what was left, though, so he heaved a sigh and stretched his legs underneath the table, absentmindedly playing with his glass.

Everything had felt strange ever since they came here, and now it was finally starting to sink in. They were stuck here for an indefinite amount of time, and expected to settle in and play regular citizens. He couldn’t say he minded working, but it was such a stark contrast from his job at home, and the expectations that came with it. Here, people weren’t treating him as a hero. No one expected him to have any special powers, and no one would probably believe that he was next in line to be Hokage. Especially since they had elections here… he wondered if they’d stay long enough to take part in that. If Itachi was chosen, he wondered how Sasuke would take it.

It was all so very different from home, and if he was to be honest with himself, he couldn’t truly say that things weren’t better here and that was painful to think about. He’d barely even thought of everyone at home. Shouldn’t that make him feel guilty?

Instead, he’d initially felt relieved that Sasuke could get a break from everything, and then he’d been too worried about him to deal with anything else.

 _You went from Hokage trainee to babysitter in one week, congratulations,_ Kurama said, snickering a bit.

“Whatever,” he sighed, letting his upper body fall forwards until his forehead connected with the table.

_But maybe now you’ll actually learn something useful._

Naruto snorted. Kurama shared his burning hatred for paperwork, and there had been _a lot_ of paperwork the past year. It had gotten to the point where Naruto considered resigning simply out of boredom.

He could hear Iruka returning and sat up again, rubbing his face tiredly. He probably needed more sleep.

“All finished?”

He nodded, and Iruka smiled that sweet smile of his, that had always made Naruto ache for his parents even before he’d known them.

“Come on then, I’ll show you your room. You can leave the dishes to me.”

Following him, Naruto hoped he could take a shower. He had a feeling he was starting to smell, and there was no way in hell Sasuke would let him stay over if he did. Personally Naruto thought he was being a bit silly about it, after all they’d been smelling like crap together several times. The last time Naruto had shown up after a training session without showering, however, Sasuke had thrown him out and told him to either shower or get lost. Being lazy was no excuse to be smelly, apparently.

Naruto didn’t mind it if Sasuke was smelly, though. He kind of liked it, actually.

_You have weird taste._

_I didn’t mean it like that!_ Naruto thought back, listening with half a mind to Iruka’s instructions. _It’s just nice to know that even perfect bastards can be smelly._

_I’m going to ignore that._

Naruto huffed, but quickly covered it with a smile when Iruka gave him a strange look. Kurama just didn’t get it.

xxx

He’d been asked to change the sheets on his bed so the other Sasuke would be more comfortable. Seriously. What about _him_ being comfortable?!

With angry movements he did as told, mumbling curses under his breath as he tucked down the corners of the sheet, gritting his teeth as he went over to a small closet over by the laundry room to grab an extra pillow and blanket, throwing death glares at the neat bed once he’d finished the job. It really wasn’t fair and he couldn’t even go sleep at Menma’s place because they’d had an argument in the morning and he really didn’t want to talk to him right now.

Maybe the other Sasuke was slightly better than a prissy Menma, but only _very_ slightly.

He could hear the faint sound of water running from the bathroom across the hallway, indicating the jerk was still in there. How long did he need, anyway? He’d left the table earlier, Sasuke staying behind and hoping he wouldn’t have to see him again until he’d fallen asleep.

Of course his mother had ruined that for him, and now he sat on the bed with crossed arms and lips thinned into a line as he waited for the other Sasuke to finish up. It was still early, but he didn’t think there was a point in staying up and sneak into bed later. If anything, his family would just be talking about the guy so he might as well try to catch up on some sleep.

Another five minutes later he was ready to throw the other Sasuke out of the bathroom because _no one_ took that long to brush their teeth and pee. He knocked on the door, not entirely expecting a reply.

“Yes?” came the other Sasuke’s quiet, low voice.

“Are you done yet?”

“Do you need me to be?”

Taking several deep breaths, Sasuke tried to convince himself it wasn’t said to annoy him.

“What are you doing anyway,” he complained, not hearing anything that would give him a clue.

“Brushing my teeth.”

Okay that was it. He opened the door, which wasn’t difficult since there was no lock on it. There hadn’t been since he was five and locked himself in there whenever his parents tried to take him to the Academy. Needless to say he hadn’t enjoyed his first time there.

“Do you mind?” the other Sasuke asked with a toothbrush in hand, one eyebrow tilted in clear irritation as he waltzed inside.

“What, you’re just brushing your teeth. If you’re gonna live here you might as well get used to sharing space.”

He’d expected an angry retort, but strangely enough the other Sasuke only stared at him before slowly raising his hand again to resume his brushing. It was, honestly, a little unnerving. There was just something too raw in his eyes that told Sasuke his seemingly innocent words had hit something inside the other man.

He found his own toothbrush, trying his best not to look in the mirror as he squirted some toothpaste onto it after wetting it. Fixating his gaze on the bar of soap resting on the sink instead, he did his best to relax in the awkward silence that followed. Too late he realized that the other Sasuke wasn’t wearing his shirt anymore. He’d somehow managed to miss that small fact as he barged inside, but there was no way he could as a bare arm entered his vision, pale fingers so similar to his own twisting the tap to turn on the water.

As the other Sasuke spit into the sink and proceeded to rinse his mouth, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing over at his back. It was, most definitely, much better-looking than his own in terms of muscular definition.

There were a few scars there however that weren’t present on his own, and he couldn’t help a small sigh in relief that they weren’t entirely identical. And maybe this other Sasuke was a bit thinner than him, too.

When the other Sasuke straightened up again he was caught staring, trying in vain to fight down an angry blush as he turned his head to the side.

“If you have something to say to me, just spit it out. I don’t want to sleep having you glaring holes into my back.”

Biting down on his toothbrush he sent a sideways glare at the other man, only receiving a bored look in return. Making a decision, he leaned forwards to spit and then glared at the mirror instead, showing their near identical reflections.

The other Sasuke had slightly longer hair, and he had darker bags under his eyes. Other than that, the only difference was that one was dressed while the other was not.

“Are you always this pampered?” he blurted out before he could help himself.

The other Sasuke froze, but met his gaze in the mirror. He seemed to struggle for a few seconds, and Sasuke had time to notice that while they certainly had the same face, the expressions on the other’s weren’t ones he necessarily recognized.

“They didn’t tell you anything about me, did they?”

It was more a statement than a question, and the absolute lack of mockery threw him off slightly. There was no smugness, no enjoyment nor denial at hearing Sasuke’s question. He hesitated slightly before replying.

“Well, just that you’re from a different dimension and no one knows why you’re here, and I- I mean we have to be nice to you.”

“And you don’t want to be nice to me.”

He opened his mouth but snapped it shut again, because now he _was_ being made fun of.

“I’m not particularly fond of you either, so I couldn’t care less what you think of me. Focus on Naruto instead, he might actually be offended if you don’t like him.”

“Wow, you really are a jerk.” He couldn’t believe this. Who the hell did the other think he was, acting like he was so much better than him! “At least Naruto didn’t seem like a pompous ass last time he was here.”

“And at least Menma is slightly less childish than you.”

Glaring daggers at the other, Sasuke was seething. The line wasn’t even delivered with any feeling but he still felt like he’d lost the argument. Retorting would only prove his point. Gritting his teeth he continued brushing, almost hard enough to be uncomfortable. And why was the other Sasuke still there, staring at him like he was torn between pity and disgust.

“Fuck off,” he spat around his toothbrush, wondering if maybe Menma would let him sleep in his bed if he really begged.

“Just tell me what’s wrong, I’m too tired and I don’t have the patience for you glaring at me all the time. Normally I wouldn’t give a shit but…”

He raised his eyebrows at the other Sasuke, wondering why he looked so hesitant. It wasn’t good if he looked like an okay person. It was better if he remained a jerk.

“But?”

“But this isn’t a normal situation. For either of us. And I really just want to sleep. My head is still a mess after the shit I went through while unconscious.”

Lowering the toothbrush he gave the other Sasuke a dubious look before spitting out the excess paste, wondering why he so badly wanted to know exactly what kind of shit one might go through while unconscious. Even if it was a peace offering it was a rather strained one, as if the other Sasuke wasn’t used to talking about stuff like that.

Thinking of what to say, however, he felt a bit silly about the whole thing. Probably, if he ended up in a completely different _dimension_ with no idea how he got there or how he would get home, he’d act a little weird too. And do what others told him to.

Still, he wasn’t about to tell him he was _envious_. Something about the other man told him he would never be able to live that down.

“No, you’re right. I was acting childish. I’m tired too, I’ve had a couple stressful days.”

Well, it wasn’t a complete lie, even if it was met with slight doubt.

“I guess we should stick together since we’re the same person and all,” he joked, not that the other Sasuke looked amused.

In fact, he looked a little upset as he reached for the shirt he’d left on top of the toilet lid.

“I hope you don’t snore,” was all he said as he left the bathroom, leaving a slightly confused and definitely annoyed Sasuke behind.

xxx

Naruto was walking into his new room after a shower and somehow magically entered the realm of the ramen god instead. There was ramen everywhere, in bowls and floating through the air, tempting him with the amazing smell. He could feel himself drooling, but it didn’t matter. He would gladly lose himself in this illusion forev-

Gathering up some chakra he soon managed to dispel the genjutsu, finding none other than Mitsuru perched on his bed and snickering loudly.

“What the hell?” he exclaimed, stomach growling slightly which only threw the kid into another fit of laughter. “What are you doing in my room?! And how did you know I love ramen?!”

“You were talking to yourself before you went showering. Do you always do that?”

Well, to be fair, he _had_ mentioned to Kurama that he wished he could go for some ramen.

“I wasn’t talking to myself,” he retorted, throwing his dirty clothes on the floor and grabbing some that Iruka had so nicely lent him. “And shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“No,” Mitsuru scoffed. “I’m not one of the younger kids.”

Naruto wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh at the insulted way he said it or simply throw him out. Though, he supposed, that wouldn’t exactly be a good start between the two of them.

“Okay, well, you had your fun and I gotta go, so let’s play more tomorrow.”

Mitsuru’s eyes narrowed at him, but he didn’t move from his spot.

“I’ll leave if you beat me at a game of cards.”

“Uh, no, you’re leaving now.”

“I’ll tell Iruka you tried to hit me.”

“I’ll hit you for real if you-“

Naruto took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Things were different here. This Iruka didn’t seem like he’d appreciate it if he clogged Mitsuru over the head, even if he was being a brat.

“Fine,” he relented. “But only one round, and then I need to go check on Sasuke.”

Almost two hours and an endless row of defeat later, Iruka took pity on him and forced Mitsuru to go sleep.

“Children’s card game my ass,” he muttered to himself as he teleported himself into Sasuke’s room, ignoring yet another one of Kurama’s amused comments.

xxx

Sasuke’s bed was pretty wide. He’d saved up to it with his own money, because if there was one thing important to him, it was his beauty sleep. Now, especially, he was incredibly thankful for it since he and the other Sasuke had no problem sharing with a decent amount of space between them.

Not that he was really able to sleep, though.

“So, how long do you think you’ll be staying?” he asked after about an hour with no sleep in sight.

“Why do you ask, I’m trying to sleep.”

“I’m just making conversation. I guess you don’t know then.”

A muffled noise was his only reply.

“Are you always this sociable?” he asked drily, ignoring that he’d been the one glaring and ignoring the other for most of the evening.

“No, I’m usually less sociable. Now shut up.”

The other Sasuke turned on his side, facing away from him. Well, maybe he shouldn’t have expected them to patch things up after the shaky start but… wait, why did he even _want_ to patch things up. Well, possibly because he’d overheard Itachi and Shisui on his way out of the bathroom. They’d been discussing the sleeping arrangements, and at first he’d been annoyed that they seemed more worried that Sasuke would bother the other one rather than the opposite. But then they’d said something that definitely changed his view on the matter.

Shisui had expressed his concern, but Itachi had reassured him with the fact that this was his little brother they were talking about, and if there was anyone who might possibly be able to manage getting close to the other dimension’s Sasuke, it was him.

Not that they said why he needed to get close to him, but hey, he’d prove to them that he could. And then he’d refuse to tell them whatever they needed to know because as always, they were keeping him in the dark so maybe now they’d know how that felt.

Petty, but Sasuke was tired of being babied.

Mimicking the other Sasuke he settled on his side, contemplating what to ask next. He probably shouldn’t push his luck, but sometimes people let things slip when they were tired and annoyed that they wouldn’t normally reveal.

“What’s the deal with that bandage? I mean, your hand didn’t exactly look damaged.”

“It’s nothing,” the other Sasuke grunted.

“If it was nothing you could tell me about it.”

“If I cared about your opinion I might tell you about it.”

Ah, looks like he was back to being a jerk.

“If you’re so tired, how come you’re not asleep yet?”

There was silence for a few seconds, then Sasuke turned onto his back again so that he could watch him through the semi-darkness.

“You’ll see why soon enough.”

Well, definitely not the answer he’d been expecting, but the other didn’t seem inclined to elaborate. Deciding to give up he sighed, closing his eyes and trying to distract himself by imagining going on a date with one of his favorite actresses.

He must have started to nod off, because the sudden additional presence in the room startled him as it climbed onto the end of the bed.

“Stupid kids and their stupid games, making me fucking late,” a very familiar voice muttered, and for a second Sasuke’s heartbeat fluttered thinking it was Menma who had come to see him.

“Oi, teme are you awake?”

Not Menma then.

“You sure took your time,” the other Sasuke said, yawning as he spoke.

“Hey, that wasn’t my fault, I was-“ He made an abrupt pause, patting the right side of the bed. Then he patted the left side, incidentally patting Sasuke’s legs in the process. “Why are there two people in the bed?” he asked, confused, apparently not expecting to have company.

“Because it’s my bed?” Sasuke’s tone was dry, and he rolled his eyes as Naruto let out a surprised noise.

“You’re sharing?!”

“Evidently.”

“Okay, that’s so creepy, can we turn on the light? You sound exactly the same.”

Sasuke turned on the bedside lamp, blinking against the light, unable to help his amusement as Naruto’s eyes darted between the two of them. He was dressed in a simple black t-shirt and dark blue sweat pants, looking an awful lot like Menma did, if Menma had actually lowered himself to look cute. There was just something about the complete mess of a state his hair was in coupled with the widened blue eyes staring intently at him.

“Okay yeah, that’s better when I can see you,” he continued, not explaining exactly what kind of difference the light made.

Obviously he must be able to separate them even in the darkness, because he was a lot closer to the other Sasuke than him.

“You should just go back and sleep,” the other Sasuke mumbled, sounding tired now. Maybe he’d been on the verge of falling asleep as well.

“But I’m already here,” Naruto whined, poking at the other Sasuke’s arm, and instantly Sasuke’s mood soured.

“If you’re staying, you better not talk. I’m not going to listen to you being lovey-dovey all night.”

This seemed to hit a nerve, because Naruto immediately squawked and stared at him, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“Being _what_?!” he screeched, and Sasuke winced.

“Shut up, you’ll wake up the others!” he hissed, sitting up and making sure Naruto could see the warning expression on his face clearly.

“We’re not-“ he seemed to catch himself, lowering his voice as he continued. “We’re _not_ like that. Maybe you and Menma are all over each other but we’re _not_. No way!”

He couldn’t help but give him a highly doubtful look, considering how close Naruto was to the other Sasuke, as well as the pale hand curled around his wrist.

“Either sleep or go back to your own bed,” the other Sasuke chastised him with, but Naruto kept up his angry stare for a couple more seconds before grumbling something to himself about bastards looking way too alike each other.

Too late Sasuke realized that Naruto was now making himself comfortable _between_ them, meaning much less space for him. At least Naruto seemed content with sharing Sasuke’s pillow and blanket, even though there was a brief scuffle first to determine how much he was allowed to share.

Turning off the lamp again, Sasuke wished he knew where Naruto’s bed was so he could sleep there instead. Sure, he could go sleep on the couch, but it was a sake of principle to sleep in his own bed in his own house.

This better not happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's in favor of this SasuNaruSasu bed sandwich happening again? I honestly feel like this chapter was a bit messy and Charasuke turned out slightly different than I expected, but he has some issues to go through before we can have more fun with him.  
> Also, it's very annoying to have to write "the other Sasuke" all the time, so if you wanna come up with a good nickname for Charasuke to use in descriptions of him I'd appreciate it. Goodnight!


	20. You know you're best friends when...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this is another slow, long chapter... I wanted to write about Hashirama and Madara's story but we'll get that in the next chapter I guess... this chapter is more for some silent suffering lol.
> 
> Oh, and as for Charasuke's name, the chara part comes from chara chara, which is a way to describe people who are flirty and easy going, possibly wearing cheap-looking clothes and they're also likely to cheat. Well there are more definitions to it, but basically it describes a person like Sasuke in RTN. So yeah I didn't come up with it on my own, for those of you who might think so, it's the "official" name given to him by the Japanese fandom.

Sasuke woke up with the lingering, vivid images of a dream he couldn’t quite remember, and the feeling that he was much, much too warm. He thought Naruto had been in the dream, but it’s not like that was very unusual. And he usually dreamt, though it was rarely pleasant. The amount of times he’d felt envious of Naruto’s simple ramen dreams…

He frowned as his sense of touch slowly reached his conscious thoughts. Naruto was basically pressed up against his back, and he himself was lying uncomfortably close to the edge of the bed. Half turning and propping himself up on his forearms he almost squashed Naruto’s face, there was that little space for him left.

And there was a pale arm resting across Naruto’s side.

His alter ego looked like he was enjoying himself, snuggled up to Naruto’s back with his cheek pressed against it and a happy look on his face. It took all of Sasuke’s willpower not to reach out and fling him across the room.

Gritting his teeth and contemplating how to deal with the situation, Naruto interrupted his thoughts with a small whine, his right hand blindly reaching for Sasuke’s t-shirt and taking a secure hold of it. Sure, this wasn’t the first time he’d woken up with Naruto fairly close to him, but he had to admit this was a rather new detail.

Heaving a sigh, still feeling a bit out of it like yesterday, he settled for pushing the offending arm away from Naruto before releasing the grip on his shirt, and then got out of bed.

In the doorway he paused, checking if he would need to actually move his counterpart to the other side of the bed, but he managed to do that all by himself as he rolled around to find a more comfortable position. Naruto was frowning, and Sasuke supposed he would wake up soon.

Well, served him right to wake up like that.

Down in the kitchen he found Itachi and Shisui finishing up their breakfast, talking quietly with each other until he joined them.

“Good morning,” Shisui said in a bright voice, looking far too awake for Sasuke’s taste. “So are you Sasuke or Sasu-chan?”

“You can’t tell them apart?” Itachi teased him, but Sasuke only shrugged and sat down to eat.

“Hmm, not when they’re dressed like that,” Shisui answered, nodding his head towards Sasuke’s simple blue t-shirt that he’d borrowed from the other Sasuke.

“Well, if you look at their faces, you’d know that Sasuke here is usually blank while my little brother would be most definitely pouting.”

Not exactly what Sasuke wanted to hear in the morning, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel offended. Shisui laughed, however, and the sound sent a shiver of memories through his mind. Instead of making him feel angry or upset, however, it was a pleasant memory that resurfaced. One where they’d all been playing around as Sasuke had been very little.

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and instead reached for the tea pot. Mikoto’s prepared breakfasts were a lot more traditional than he usually ate himself, but he liked it. It was another thing that made him remember his childhood, and he wondered how it was possible that their cooking could be so similar even though they were from completely different dimensions.

“So, did you sleep well?” Itachi asked him, though there was an underlying sense of amusement to his words, that had Sasuke narrow his eyes in suspicion.

“I guess.”

He wasn’t sure of what to say. The whole previous evening he’d felt as if he was somehow trying to adjust, because before his hospital visit he’d felt torn between pretending nothing was weird and feeling like he wanted to break something just to get out of this illusion of normalcy, but right now everything just felt…

Like this was how it was _supposed_ to be.

It didn’t bother him to be around all his dead relatives, at least not in a painful way. It was still a bit strange, and sometimes he had to adjust to the fact that they looked much older than he could remember. It was, however, decidedly nice. It was nice to come down and find Itachi and Shisui in the kitchen, it was nice to know that probably tomorrow he’d be able to work at the police headquarters again, it was nice to know that in the evening, he could join Mikoto in the kitchen as she cooked if he wanted to.

He glanced at Itachi when he didn’t say anything else, noticing how Shisui was trailing his fingers over the back of his hand with a small smile on his face. Quickly he looked down into his tea again, embarrassed to have witnessed something that most definitely had to be an intimate moment. Weren’t they a bit shameless, acting like this in front of others? Though, they’d acted much the same last night at dinner, and no one had reacted to it. Well maybe his counterpart hadn’t looked too happy but he hadn’t been happy in general anyway.

Taking a sip of the almost cold tea, he fought down the heat invading his cheeks. He didn’t know why it was affecting him now of all times, but he hadn’t found much time to contemplate his discovery of their relationship earlier.

“Mother has some work to take care of today, but she said there’s lunch for you in the fridge, and gave us some strict orders to make sure you get some rest.”

He nodded in acknowledgment of Itachi’s instructions, unable to resist feeling slightly happy for the care she showed for him. Sure, Naruto had been fussing over him for the past year, but it wasn’t the same.

“Well, Itachi and I are off to do some training, but-“

Shisui’s words were interrupted by a loud shout from upstairs, followed by even more shouting and eventually the stomping of feet coming down the stairs.

“I guess they woke up,” Itachi mused, and Sasuke didn’t have time to ask if he’d peeked on them earlier because Naruto showed up in the doorway, his eyes screaming murder as they zoned in on Sasuke.

“What the hell you bastard?!” he screeched, looking almost comical with a terrible bed head and wrinkled clothing, a few red marks on one cheek from sleeping on it. “I can’t believe you left me with that guy! Do you even know what he’s _capable of_?!”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, because no, he certainly couldn’t think of any way he might be a threat to Naruto.

“He’s a _pervert_!” Naruto hissed, and by now Shisui was doubled over with laughter, Itachi trying hard to hold back from joining him. “He could have done _anything_ to me!”

“I wasn’t aware you needed protecting,” Sasuke told him drily, turning slightly to look up at him since he now stood as close as possible without actually climbing onto the chair.

“You- I-“ Naruto’s face was a flaming red as he searched for words, one hand grabbing the front of Sasuke’s shirt to halfheartedly shake him. “That wasn’t the point!”

“Then what was the point?”

Honestly, Sasuke was amused against his better judgment. Naruto looked too flustered not to be, and soon let go of Sasuke’s shirt to throw his hands in the air in exasperation.

“We are _so_ not sleeping in his bed again!”

Letting out a quiet snort, Sasuke returned to his tea as Naruto pulled out a chair and plopped down on it with an angry huff.

“So, Naruto, it’s nice to see you again,” Itachi interrupted the younger ninja’s sulking with, and Sasuke rolled his eyes when Naruto looked slightly embarrassed.

“Uh, yeah, good morning.” He hesitated a little, then scratched his neck. “Sorry for calling your brother a pervert.”

Shisui laughed again, humor twinkling in his eyes.

“Don’t worry about that, he inherited it from a certain someone.”

Sasuke almost choked on his tea as Itachi swatted Shisui’s teasing words away with the flick of a hand. Naruto looked almost as shocked as he did but recovered almost immediately, joining in on the laughter. Glancing to the side at Naruto’s face, Sasuke was again struck with that feeling that this was how things were _supposed_ to be. Naruto laughing as if he had no worries in the world, together with his brother and cousin. It tugged at his heart, reminding him that things could have been like that, if it weren’t for…

But no, he pushed those thoughts away, focusing on the present instead and the faint warmth blooming in his chest. Shisui had gotten up to clear out his dishes, placing a sweet kiss on top of Itachi’s head, something Naruto apparently missed because he was busy poking Sasuke in the side.

“Seriously though, you could have woken me up,” he muttered, and Sasuke tore his eyes from the affectionate smile gracing Itachi’s lips to meet Naruto’s put out look instead.

“You could have woken up by yourself when I got up.”

Naruto jutted out his lower lip, showing his displeasure.

“Fine, but it wasn’t funny to wake up and think you were dead or something.”

“Why would you think that?” Sasuke asked with a frown.

“Well,” Naruto started, looking annoyed now, “because I couldn’t feel you there even though I saw you, it was creepy.”

Sasuke blinked, realizing that Naruto was talking about that pulsating beat that connected them. So that was why he’d been so irritated by Menma, most likely. He looked like Naruto but felt fake since he didn’t have Naruto’s presence.

“Don’t do it again,” Naruto sighed, and scooted his chair closer so he could lean his head against Sasuke’s shoulder.

Not that there seemed to be a reason for it, but Sasuke couldn’t bring himself to push him away. Instead he sipped on what remained of his now definitely cold tea and listened with half an ear to Itachi and Shisui discussing which training ground they were going to use.

A couple minutes later –during which Naruto had stolen one of his egg rolls claiming he didn’t look like he was going to eat it anyway– his supposed lookalike dragged his feet into the kitchen.

“Morning,” he mumbled, sending a scathing look at Naruto that didn’t seem like it was actually meant seriously.

“Slept well, Sasu-chan?” Shisui asked him, not bothering to hide his grin.

“Shut up.”

His hair looked wet as he ran a hand through it, and Sasuke supposed he’d taken a shower.

“Of course he slept well, he was clinging all over me when I woke up!” Naruto burst out, upon which ‘Sasu-chan’ rolled his eyes before hiding behind the door to the fridge as he searched for something.

“No need to scream like a little baby,” he drawled as he came back in sight, holding a carton of milk. “Besides, shouldn’t you be used to seeing this face when you wake up.”

He tapped himself on the cheek mockingly, which made Naruto flush angrily. He would have probably shouted again if Sasuke hadn’t kicked his foot. It was way too early for them to start bickering, in his opinion. If he just flat out didn’t enjoy Naruto bickering with someone besides himself was irrelevant.

“Tch, Sasuke you better come sleep in _my_ room instead, this pervert isn’t trustworthy,” Naruto announced as he leaned back with crossed arms, and Sasuke almost commented on the numerous questionable magazines Naruto kept in his apartment back in their dimension.

“Good,” his alter ego grunted and sat down after having found some cereal as well.

“Aww, the three of you are so cute together,” Shisui cooed, laughing at their insulted expressions. “Anyway, we were thinking of a nickname for you, Sasu-chan. We need a way to separate you.”

“Call me Sasu-chan and I _will_ hurt you.”

Naruto snickered at that, but hurriedly shut up when he received a death glare for it.

“Hmm, it needs to be something catchy…” Shisui mused, ignoring that the death glare was now directed at him instead of Naruto. “Sas? Sasu?”

“How about pervy Sasuke,” Naruto muttered, sticking his tongue out when the death glare switched to him again.

Sasuke was extremely happy that no one seemed to consider a new name for _him_.

“We could always just put a suffix to his name,” Itachi suggested, smiling pleasantly as he leaned against the counter. “Sasuke-kun maybe?”

“Why are you giving me baby names?” the alternate dimension Sasuke complained, groaning with chin in one hand. “And why can’t _he_ get a nickname instead!”

Shisui’s eyes flickered between the two of them a few times, an amused smile tugging at his lips.

“I wouldn’t dream of coming up with a cutesy name for someone who can knock out the kyuubi with one punch.”

“You guys suck.”

“Sai told me once that nicknames should refer to a personality trait or looks,” Naruto offered, humming in thought. “So… I think I’ll still go with pervy Sasuke.”

“I’m not listening,” ‘pervy Sasuke’ whined, stabbing into his rice with his chopsticks.

Shisui slapped his hands together, looking like he’d just solved every single problem in the world.

“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed, a wide grin threatening to split his cheeks. “Let’s call you Charasuke! It’s pretty similar, and it totally fits!”

Itachi looked at him questioningly, then understanding lit up his eyes.

“Ah, you mean because of his constant flirting? Well, he certainly dresses for the part.”

‘Charasuke’ was gaping at them now, looking torn between anger and indignation. He settled for closing his eyes, snapping the innocent chopsticks in half as he tried to calm down.

“I hate you guys so much,” he gritted out, and Sasuke couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him.

It wasn’t the nicest nickname anyone could have come up with, but on the other hand, if what he’d heard about him was true, he supposed it did fit. He was wearing the same garishly purple short-sleeved shirt as last night, open at the front to reveal his black t-shirt and Uchiha fan necklace.

“Oh come on,” Shisui argued, “You can’t deny that between the two of you, one is definitely the serious type while the other is the easy-going, talkative one.”

Charasuke didn’t comment, he simply glared at anyone who dared to meet his eyes and continued stabbing his rice before eating it. Naruto was holding his hands in front of his mouth, snickering again, but Sasuke smacked the back of his head lightly to make him stop.

“Aren’t you supposed to work?” he asked, Naruto pouting at him as he rubbed the imaginary bruise.

“I don’t start until lunch.”

“Oh, that’s right, you’re working for Iruka now?” Itachi asked, looking interested.

“Yep, I’m gonna help out with the kids and clean and stuff.”

Naruto didn’t look particularly sad over this fact, and Sasuke figured the orphanage must have been a nice place. They’d talked once about how it would have been a lot better if they hadn’t been forced to grow up alone, though Sasuke couldn’t really say that having other kids around him would have made Itachi’s actions any less painful.   Naruto certainly hadn’t deserved the treatment he got by the village, though he wasn’t very keen on talking about it the few times Sasuke had touched the subject.

“Hey, that reminds me. Did we ever ask you what you do for a living back home?” Shisui asked, and Sasuke had to rack his brain to remember if they had.

Naruto had said something about it to Tsunade and the others in the meeting room, but he didn’t know if she’d told anyone who wasn’t there.

“Umm,” Naruto answered, scratching his neck and looking slightly uncomfortable.

Knowing him, it was probably because of the awkward fact that Sasuke wasn’t currently a ninja.

“Naruto is the Hokage’s second assistant,” Sasuke replied in his stead, letting out a snort when Naruto blushed at the others’ impressed looks. He’d decided that referring to Naruto as Hokage-in-training was a bit unnecessary, and the other didn’t disagree with his choice of words.

“Really? That’s impressive,” Itachi said, smiling at him. “But are you sure you should be working for Iruka, in that case? There must be something you’re more qualified for.”

“It’s fine,” Naruto waved him off with, “I don’t mind. It’s nice to take a break from all the paper work.”

“But,” Shisui started, observing him. “Doesn’t that mean bad news for Konoha? I mean, their Hokage assistant suddenly disappearing like that…”

Staring down at the table, Naruto bit his lower lip as the atmosphere in the room tensed.

“Probably. But they know I can take care of myself.”

The others probably didn’t notice, but Sasuke could hear how insecure Naruto sounded. Of course, if it was only Naruto who had disappeared, people would be upset and worried but they’d be sure of his return, once he’d settled whatever things were happening to him.

With Sasuke gone together with him, however…

“That’s gotta suck, though. I can only imagine if Shizune suddenly disappeared with no trace,” Shisui added.

“Are you _really_ the Hokage’s assistant?” Charasuke asked, giving him a look filled with doubt. “You don’t really seem like one.”

“Hey! I’m totally gonna be the next Hokage, so you can shut up!”

Sasuke sighed, rubbing a hand tiredly over his face. Things would be a lot easier if no one but a few people knew about their circumstances. Not that he could disagree with Charasuke, honestly. Naruto screamed anything _but_ Hokage at moments like these, though Sasuke knew just how capable he could be if he wanted to.

“Sure you are,” Charasuke muttered, Shisui chuckling at the exchange.

“Well, Hokage in line or not, if you don’t take care of your dishes you’ll get an earful from Mikoto,” he warned him. “And what about you, Sasuke?”

Sasuke contemplated his options. Naruto had tensed again, staring at him, emanating worry like it wouldn’t be a dead giveaway that something was up with Sasuke’s current life.

“I’ve been a construction worker the past year,” he settled for, glancing at Charasuke when he coughed up some rice. “Konoha needed some… rebuilding. I volunteered.”

“Oh,” Itachi murmured, exchanging a look with Shisui. “Did you have an earthquake or something like that?”

“Something like that.”

“What do you mean _something like that_?” Charasuke asked suspiciously, side eyeing Naruto who was doing his best not to fidget.

“Well, let’s not question them too much,” Itachi reprimanded him, as if he hadn’t been the one starting it.

“Hmph,” was all Charasuke replied to that, ending the conversation.

A few minutes later, Itachi and Shisui left for their training, and Charasuke left with them to take care of some business of his own. Which left Sasuke alone with Naruto, who waited for the front door to close by sitting on his hands and jumping slightly up and down, much to Sasuke’s annoyance.

“What?” he sighed when Naruto’s mouth opened and closed with things he apparently wanted to say.

“I still think we should call him pervy Sasuke, you have no idea what they did to me!”

“Obviously because you never told me.”

“Oh. Right.”

Naruto was blushing again, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. When nothing else seemed to come out, he got up to clean the table after them.

“I think they’re dating,” Naruto eventually admitted, tapping his fingers on the tabletop and seemingly finding something outside in the garden very interesting.

“Who?”

“Menma and the perv!”

“You should probably stop calling him a perv.”

“Yeah but- Sasuke don’t you have anything to say to that?! They’re _dating_.”

Sasuke shrugged, rinsing a bowl before placing it in the sink.

“So are Itachi and Shisui.”

When he didn’t hear anything besides strangled noises behind him, he turned around to find Naruto wide-eyed, hands clinging to the table.

“For real?!” he shouted once he found his voice again, Sasuke sending him a disapproving look.

“Yes. Aren’t you the one who made fun of me a while back for not noticing when people are dating? I thought they were pretty obvious.”

Muttering to himself about stupid bastards and no, it definitely wasn’t obvious, Naruto crossed his arms and sank lower in his chair, trying to come to terms with the news.

“Doesn’t it bother you even a little?” he whined after a minute or two, and Sasuke could feel his eyes boring through the back of his skull.

“Why should it? It’s none of my business. If they’re happy together, isn’t that a lot better than what happened to us?”

Naruto fell silent at that, and Sasuke was able to do the dishes in peace. Of course, he wasn’t as unaffected as he pretended to be. Charasuke sure had some nerve cuddling up to Naruto if he was actually with Menma. Sasuke had no patience for people who didn’t respect their partner. If there was one thing his parents had taught him, it was that when you’re a couple, you stand by each other through everything, be it life or death. And that meant being faithful to each other and not keeping secrets.

He didn’t know the nature of either Itachi and Shisui’s or Charasuke and Menma’s relationships, but he couldn’t see why Naruto was so bothered by it. Maybe it was the whole being related thing, and then of course the fact that it was Naruto himself though in an alternate world.

“I don’t know, even if they might be dating, they kind of seemed like they weren’t…” Naruto struggled for words, a frown on his face when Sasuke glanced at him. “Like, they were talking about, umm, you know, doing _that_ with… Charasuke and Menma I mean. Like they didn’t seem that close, and Menma was kind of… And Charasuke is totally a pervert!”

Naruto was babbling, and Sasuke didn’t bother trying to make sense of it. He finished cleaning up instead, then leaned against the counter with his arms crossed, giving Naruto a questioning look.

“Are you done talking about it or do you need a minute?”

“What the hell,” Naruto spat, flustered and looking anywhere but at him. “It’s just weird, you can’t deny that! I mean they’re all guys, and-“

He stopped talking when Sasuke looked anything but amused, heaving a frustrated sigh before letting his forehead connect with the table instead.

“It’s just weird,” he repeated insistently.

“You can always ask them about it,” Sasuke suggested, which earned him a doubtful snort. “Whatever, I’m going outside for a bit. Join me when you stop sulking.”

Naruto let out a protesting whine, but didn’t move from his spot. Stepping out onto the porch, Sasuke decided that Naruto was acting really childish about the whole thing. If two people were in love, it certainly wasn’t any other people’s business. If they were lucky to find someone to share their life with, who were they to disapprove of that? There were far worse things to be bothered by in the world.

Far worse _people_ to be bothered by.

It didn’t take long for Naruto to join him, however, and together they sat in comfortable silence until it was time for Naruto to head back to the orphanage for his first day at the job. Before he left, he gave Sasuke a long, contemplative look that he pretended not to notice.

“You’re still staying at my place tonight.”

“Alright.”

Naruto seemed like he wanted to say more, but snapped his mouth shut again and turned to leave. Once he was gone, Sasuke wondered if going through a few exercises counted as resting. Deciding it did, he got up and started stretching.

The silence wasn’t nearly as comfortable without Naruto there.

xxx

Charasuke hadn’t planned on bumping into Menma. He’d split ways with Shisui and his brother, headed for the Hokage tower to request a mission. He could use some more money, as well as the distraction. If it happened to be an out-of-the-village mission, well, he wouldn’t complain.

“Hey!” he called out as Menma passed him without so much as a look of recognition. “Don’t be an asshole.”

“I thought you weren’t talking with me,” Menma replied, but did stop and turn to face him.

“Maybe if you talked about something other than how good Sai is in bed I’d want to,” he countered.

“No, I think you need the reminder that you and I are just fucking, and nothing else.”

“I never said we weren’t.” Sure, maybe he _wanted_ there to be something more, but clearly Menma wasn’t interested in hearing it, and Charasuke tried his best to swallow the disappointment rising up like bile in his throat. “But that doesn’t mean I like listening to it.”

“You’re jealous.” Menma was sneering at him, and honestly Charasuke was a bit taken aback by the venom in his voice. “Why don’t you go play with your other friends, I’m sure Sasuke and Naruto wouldn’t mind a threesome with you if you beg them nicely.”

Feeling something snap inside him, Charasuke reached out to grab the front of Menma’s shirt, pulling him close enough for their noses to brush.

“I’ve done nothing but listen to your complaints all year, what the fuck is your problem?!”

“You think I care enough about you to share?”

Shocked, Charasuke took a few steps back, letting go of Menma. His head felt like it was spinning. Sure, he’d never honestly expected Menma to feel the same about him, but he’d thought they were at least _friends_. He thought they had _something_.

“I can’t believe you. Were you just _using me_ this whole time?!”

“Oh come on, like you don’t fuck people just for fun.”

“Not like _this_! I don’t go on missions with them! I don’t fucking say stuff to make them feel special!”

Menma made a pitying face at him, shrugging his shoulders indifferently.

“It’s not my fault if you read too much into it. Poor Sasuke, all these fangirls running after you and the one guy you fall for doesn’t like you back.”

Charasuke didn’t realize he’d tried to punch him until he stood with Menma’s hand closed securely around his fist, a mocking tilt to his lips.

“As weak as ever. Maybe you should put some more effort into your training instead of spreading your legs for anyone calling you pretty.”

“Fuck you!” He tried to punch, kick, scratch, anything he could to hurt Menma, ninja training be damned. “Fuck you to hell and back, you two-faced, lying, shitty demon!”

Menma slapped him. It wasn’t that hard, but it certainly snapped him out of his rage.

“Get lost. You’re just a spoiled brat, you don’t know shit about me.” Menma’s voice was low, threatening, his face suddenly close and his eyes flickering red so quickly it could have been his imagination. “All you’ve got is a pretty face and a pretty clan name. I don’t give a fuck about you so don’t talk to me again.”

And with that he let go of him, walking off with a stiffness to his shoulders that spoke of just how angry he was. Charasuke remained in his spot, drawing in shuddering breaths as his hands shook with the urge to run back after him and _hurt_ him.

“You piece of shit,” he half laughed, half cried, clenching his fists to steady them.

Now he _really_ needed a mission out of the village. Trying to ignore the people staring at him, he took a deep breath and continued walking, faster this time and feeling like he’d explode any second. Luckily his fangirls didn’t bother him and he reached the tower with no further incident, speeding into the mission room that was mostly empty.

“Hello, Sasuke,” the girl he’d approached said with a smile. She was a regular worker there, even though she was a civilian. Which was good because he didn’t want to talk to anyone who might notice he was upset and refuse to give him a mission.

“Hey, do you have any longer missions? Starting right away, preferably.”

She frowned, her long, dark hair swaying slightly as she tilted his head in thought.

“Hold on, let me check something.”

She walked into an adjoining room that contained every ninja’s personal mission file, though he didn’t see why she’d need to check it. Usually they only used it for filing mission reports. When she came back, there was an apologetic look on her face, and Charasuke could just feel his day becoming worse by the minute.

“I’m sorry, you’re not allowed to take missions outside the village for the time being. Hokage’s orders. But here’s the list with the missions still available today.”

He stared at her, cursing two certain guys for showing up with such terrible timing inside his head. Who the hell did that old woman think she was, forbidding him from leaving the village without even informing him! Sure, she was the Hokage, but still. He really wasn’t happy about it.

“Mission number thirteen taken!” a voice called out, and the girl quickly crossed out said mission on the paper before holding it out for him again.

He snatched it from her, scanning through it quickly. As expected, they were all D-rank, perfectly suited for the newly appointed genin who needed experience with handling clients.

“If you don’t mind, could you do number eight? I’m worried Kyoko-baachan won’t get any help with her groceries today, and she really needs them.”

She gave him an expectant look, seemingly immune to his terrible mood, and with a sigh he nodded, listening to her instructions and accepting the shopping list and money envelope. It was better than nothing, at least.

He immersed himself in the task, pushing all thoughts of Menma and Sasuke out and instead concentrating on finding the cheapest deals at the grocery store. He’d gone shopping for a lot of grannies as a fresh genin, so it was like falling into an old routine. It helped. Even though he walked by the counter containing Menma’s favorite cake, and all the drinks that he knew exactly what Menma thought of.

His eyes were stinging by the time he made it out of the store, loaded with two heavy bags. Maybe he hadn’t expected things to go his way, but he had _hoped_. He’d hoped even though he’d pretended to flirt with his fangirls, had pretended he slept with them, too. And it didn’t help that the few people he’d told had done the opposite of support him, instead telling him to give up. They were right, of course they were. He never should have gotten involved with that jerk…

Lost in his depressing thoughts, he didn’t notice Sakura until she waved a hand in front of his face.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked, her bright smile morphing into a more worried one as she took in his expression.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working?” he asked dully, dropping the bags to the ground since he didn’t think she’d let him get away soon.

“I’m on my lunch break, it’s an extra long one since I’ve been working overtime, and things were pretty slow today.”

He really admired that Sakura was so sure of what she wanted to do with her life, not to mention she was very good at it. It made him feel so insignificant, standing there in the middle of a beginner’s mission.

“That’s nice,” he forced out anyway.

“You look a bit upset though?” she told him, voice gentle, and he could feel his bottom lip betray him as it started quivering.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve got to deliver these.”

She eyed the bags, not questioning why he was performing such a mundane task.

“I’ll go with you, and then we can have lunch together,” she decided, leaving no room for him to argue.

Not that he wanted to. Sakura was a very good friend, had been ever since they got placed on the same team. Though, she’d also been one of the people who had disapproved of him wanting something serious with Menma. She’d probably be happy to hear the news.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he picked up the bags again, listening with half an ear to Sakura as she chatted heartily with him the whole way to Kyoko-baachan’s house, taking care of holding a conversation with the old woman in his stead.

Sooner than he’d liked they were squeezed into a tiny booth in one of the popular sushi restaurants, Sakura’s look expectant as they waited for their orders.

“Is this about the other Sasuke?” she asked, and Charasuke almost snorted.

It both was and wasn’t.

“I had a fight with Menma,” he mumbled instead, figuring it was better to get it over with quickly.

She immediately got a disapproving look in her green eyes, and he could just tell she was cussing him out mentally.

“What did he do now?” she asked, biting her lip in slight hesitation before continuing. “Is it about Sai?”

He shrugged, not really sure that Sai was the problem. Sai was a good friend too, after all, much better than Menma had ever been.

“Sai don’t know I liked Menma, anyway.”

“Still, he’s your teammate! He should know better!” She tapped the table, mulling it over, until she seemed to realize just exactly what he’d said. “Wait, what do you mean you _liked_ him? You’re giving up?”

He shrugged again, nails digging into his palms. He didn’t want to start crying in public. The asshole didn’t deserve it anyway.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, damn,” Sakura sighed, leaning back in her seat to take in his whole appearance. “And this was your decision or his?”

“I said I don’t want to talk about.”

“His, then,” she concluded. “I’m sorry, that must suck. I mean, you really seemed to like him.”

“Well,” he said, picking up his glass of water and inspecting it. “He can go shove something spiky up his shitty ass.”

Sakura looked torn between amusement and disagreeing.

“You know he’s got his issues,” she reminded him, as if she hadn’t told him that repeatedly over the past months. “It can’t be easy carrying the kyuubi around.”

“Sure, but that doesn’t mean he can be an ass.”

“No, I guess not.” She thought for a while, as if evaluating him. He really didn’t need her to turn medic on him right now. “You should probably avoid him for now.”

They were interrupted by their food arriving, and Charasuke decided to eat rather than willingly continue the conversation. Not that he had much appetite. Somehow, it just felt like everything had been shit lately. Especially him.

“Hey,” Sakura said, placing a hand gently on his arm. “You’ll get through it, I’m sure. You deserve better than someone like him.”

Staring into his lap, he lowered the hand holding the piece of sushi he’d been about to eat. Those were just empty words anyway. He didn’t have anything going for him, no special talents, no career in sight. Was it too much to ask for at least some luck with love?

“Maybe I should just date one of my fangirls,” he tried to joke, but there was no feeling behind it.

“Sasuke…” Sakura squeezed his arm, rubbing her thumb over his bare skin.

“I don’t get it! Why did he sleep with me in the first place if he hates me so much?”

Her eyes filled with empathy, and he averted his own again. It felt like his skin was crawling, his heartbeat speeding up painfully against his ribs. He didn’t understand. Maybe that was the problem. Menma hadn’t been on any of the teams, and had always been treated special, the opposite of Charasuke. He’d always been good at things, even if some people thought it was only because of the kyuubi. Sasuke had always admired him, and felt jealous as well. Maybe it really was like Menma had told him, the only thing he had going for him was a pretty face and no brain behind it.

“Sasuke, I can tell you’re blaming yourself. It’s not your fault, okay? You have to believe me.”

Sakura was pleading with him, and he sent her a weak smile.

“Sure,” he said, but she didn’t believe it for a second.

“Look,” she told him, forcing his chin up so their eyes met. “My lunch break is almost over, but this conversation isn’t over. And don’t you dare do anything stupid because you’re upset.”

“No problem,” he muttered. “I’m not allowed to take missions outside the village anyway.”

She frowned, then her features smoothened out in realization.

“Of course,” she breathed. “Well, we’ve gotta talk about that stuff too. Now eat your food like a good boy so I don’t have to worry about that, at least.”

xxx

Naruto was exhausted. You’d think someone with enough stamina to fight a god wouldn’t feel close to passing out after only six hours of work, but there he was, lying spread eagle on the grass with one child sitting on his stomach –or rather jumping up and down on it– and another pulling his arm, while a third was shouting at him from the swings to hurry up.

“Pway! Pway!”

Luckily, little Daisuke was the one jumping on him, too excited to form the word properly.

“Alright, alright, just give me a second,” he huffed, though Yoshie wouldn’t stop tugging his arm.

“You don’t have time for sleeping!” she insisted, her braids flying around her head as she shook it, her tiny mouth pursed as she used her entire strength to pull at him.

She was surprisingly strong for such a small child, though Naruto shouldn’t be since there were definitely kids in his dimension that could have killed him by that age. Heaving a sigh, he wondered how he went from cleaning duty to babysitting the two plus Natsuko. It didn’t help that they all wanted him to do different things with them. He was only one person, after all…

Oh. Damn. Why was he so stupid? Groaning, he quickly formed the seal and created three clones, much to the amazement of the three kids. Though, all three clones sent him dirty looks before smiling brightly at the kids. One went to push Natsuko on the swings, another to practice kicks with Yoshie, and the third picked up Daisuke to play horse with him.

Which left the original to take a much needed break.

“You’re not very strong, are you?”

The smug voice reaching his ears belonged to Mitsuru, and Naruto craned his neck to see him on top of the roof.

“And you’re not very good at judging strength, are you?” he shot back, crossing his arms when Mitsuru made a back flip off the building to land next to him.

Damn. He hadn’t been able to do one that well when he was ten. Sasuke probably had, though.

“Asuna needs help with her homework,” the child announced, looking down on him with a pointed look.

“Uh, sure, what kind of homework?”

He really hoped it wasn’t something difficult, though he pushed himself off the ground to stand up and brush off his pants. Iruka had given him work clothes, to wear whenever he was on duty. Apparently orange wasn’t ‘representative’ of the orphanage, but he had to admit the dark grey pants and white t-shirt were comfortable. The shirt had two bright blue stripes on each sleeve, and a stylized tree on the back. It was supposed to refer to them nurturing the kids into becoming full-grown trees able to care for themselves.

It was a nice thought, he supposed.

“She’s researching the differences in the political systems here in the Fire country compared to the Wind country.”

“The what?” Naruto asked, wondering why the hell an eleven-year-old was doing stuff like that. He couldn’t remember ever talking about political systems.

Though to be fair, he’d never been very good at listening.

“The differences,” Mitsuru repeated, slower this time. “You do know what a political system is, right?”

“Of course I know!” Naruto replied indignantly, following him inside. “Okay I have no idea,” he admitted once he’d looked over the two pages Asuna had written so far.

“Told you he wouldn’t know,” Mitsuru muttered to Asuna before sauntering off to do whatever it was the he usually did, leaving a slightly embarrassed Naruto with the politely smiling girl.

“It’s okay, Naruto, maybe if I just try to explain it to you, I’ll figure out what I want to write.”

He nodded encouragingly, grabbing an armchair to sit next to her desk.

An hour later, Iruka found him listening intently with wide eyes, and a small headache beginning to form at the onslaught of information Asuna rattled off.

“That girl is _so_ clever,” he commented when they were in the kitchen, Iruka asking him to pack away the groceries while he started dinner before finishing for the day.

Iruka sent him a surprised look.

“Well, she’s doing the same homework as the others in her year. But yes, she is clever.”

His smile was proud, and Naruto couldn’t help but feel a slight churn in his stomach. No one had ever told him he was clever and smiled like that. In fact, he probably wasn’t very clever when it came to academics. No one had ever given him _homework_ like that.

“Who’s her teacher?” he asked instead of replying, placing a couple of onions on the table, because he couldn’t help but be curious since obviously it wasn’t Iruka.

“Oh, in that particular class she’s got Jiraiya.”

Naruto dropped the bag of carrots he’d been in the process of unpacking.

“Who?”

“Jiraiya? Is there something wrong with that?”

“No, no of course not!” He shook his head a few too many times, because Iruka’s eyes narrowed as they watched his reaction.

He fumbled with the bag he’d dropped, heart slamming against his ribs. He hadn’t even thought of that, that Jiraiya would be alive in this world. Taking a deep breath he steadied himself, smiling at Iruka.

“Anything else you want me to do?”

“No, I think that’s it for today. Are you staying for dinner?”

“I was thinking I’d eat with Sasuke… oh, that’s right, I forgot to ask! Is it okay if he sleeps here a couple of nights? There’s not enough space in his house at the moment.”

Iruka raised a knowing eyebrow, and Naruto blushed furiously though he had no idea why he would.

“Alright,” Iruka conceded, “But keep quiet, okay? I don’t want the kids to hear something they’re too young for.”

Naruto was so mortified he couldn’t even come up with a proper response, only squeaking out something that would hopefully be taken as a yes before floating out the door like he was made of water like Suigetsu.

He left his clones with the kids, figuring they’d dispel themselves when they were done. It took him almost ten minutes to recover from Iruka’s suggestion, the time spent speeding through the village. He couldn’t understand why he didn’t just wave the request off with a laugh, since it was definitely an unfounded worry of Iruka’s. They weren’t like that.

And Naruto definitely hadn’t caught himself thinking about what it would be like if it _were_ like that during the day. It was all Sasuke’s fault for acting like it wasn’t a big deal if it happened! Before he’d been too worried about him to reflect on Menma and Charasuke’s actions, but when he and Sasuke had sat out on the porch the memories came flooding back to him, and he couldn’t help but feel a little curious…

But no, it was _wrong_! There was no way anyone would approve of it back home. Sasuke probably acted like it was fine because he was still a bit weird in the head after his illness. Probably. Maybe?

He shook his head to get rid of the stupid thoughts. He and Sasuke were _best friends_. Best friends can share a bed when there’s no other option, right? Best friends can totally support each other by sleeping in the same bed. That’s what best friends do, after all. Support each other.

Groaning in frustration he tugged at his hair, glaring up at the sky. If Sasuke wasn’t so damn _handsome_ he wouldn’t have needed to look through all those magazines to find other people to base his reverse harem no jutsu on. It was unfair, Sasuke had always been good-looking, even when they were kids.

Maybe that was just it, he reasoned with himself. Everyone found Sasuke pretty, after all, so he shouldn’t worry about it. He was just some otherworldly kind of good-looking that no one could be blind to.  

Yes, that had to be it.

Pleased with himself, he slowed his rushed walking and whistled a little tune to himself, noticing his reflection in a shop window. Oh crap, he’d forgotten to change out of his work clothes! He hoped Iruka didn’t mind.

Pausing, he eyed himself in the reflection. He didn’t look so bad, did he? He did have fangirls back at home now, after all. Sasuke probably thought he looked as dumb as always, though.

Slapping his forehead, Naruto groaned again. Who the hell cared what Sasuke thought of his looks?! He sure didn’t. Nuh-uh, definitely not.

He glanced at his reflection again, unconsciously flexing his biceps and blushing when he realized what he’d done.

_You’re the worst case of ignorant I’ve ever seen, and I’m a fox!_

_I have no idea what you’re talking about_ , Naruto shot back, ducking his face and starting to walk again. He should probably hurry if he wanted to catch Sasuke before he ate Mikoto’s cooking. He’d gotten some of his pay in advance, and he wanted to take Sasuke out to eat ramen because he hadn’t gotten any for his birthday.

 _I give up_ , Kurama sighed, and Naruto scowled at nothing in particular.

Since when did a fox know anything about stuff like ramen, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will never cease to be amazed by Naruto's ability to be so way off target when talking to Kurama. Kurama is definitely sasnar shipper number one, though. 
> 
> So, Menma dumped Charasuke, Naruto has trouble not thinking about Sasuke's naked body, and Naruto was also lectured on politics by an eleven-year-old. 
> 
> Also, this story is almost 200 pages long now. I can't believe it. Will it ever end.
> 
> Probably not.


	21. ...no one else matters as much

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter focusing on the sasnar. Next chapter we'll get some more plot, promise. These two just won't let me speed things up, sigh. But I like this chapter. I hope you do too. Sorry it took me a while to finish it, but I couldn't write during my trip to Tokyo:p I should probably get off my couch now because my legs keep falling asleep.

Naruto had appeared inside the house, grabbed a hold of Sasuke’s arm, and shouted that he was taking him for ramen and then he’d be staying over and that they shouldn’t worry about him.

And then he had promptly teleported them into the middle of the city, a small back alley revealing itself to Sasuke once he’d torn his glare off Naruto’s excited face.

“Come on, I’m starving!” Naruto urged him, tugging at his arm and pulling him out onto the bustling street.

“You put your mark on Ichiraku’s.”

The words left Sasuke as a mixture of a statement and an exasperated sigh, but Naruto grinned at him as if it was perfectly normal.

“Of course! It took me half an hour to find the damn place, I wasn’t gonna go through that again!”

When Sasuke gave him a raised eyebrow, he sighed and stopped tugging at him at least.

“I was gonna get you first but then I walked by where it is at home and it wasn’t there so I had to find it. And here it is!”

He swept his hand out in a half circle, as if the restaurant –looking exactly like the one at home– was something extraordinary that Sasuke had never seen before.

“Incredible,” he muttered, but obediently followed and took a seat next to Naruto.

He couldn’t say he was upset over Naruto dragging him there, since Mikoto had been in the middle of a tirade on how he should know better than to over exert himself right after his hospital visit. At least he’d been left alone until then, though he had expected Charasuke to show up at some point. It was still a little strange to call him that, but at least it was better than feeling like he was talking about himself in third person.

During his little moment of thought, Naruto had already managed to order for them and now sat happily dangling his legs and looking at the menu above them.

“It looks exactly the same,” he mused, leaning his chin in one hand and closing his eyes to inhale deeply through his nose. “Aah, I missed ramen so much!”

“You look ridiculous,” Sasuke snorted, which of course made Naruto release an angry noise before kicking his shin.

“No I don’t!”

Sasuke didn’t bother replying, not that the moron seemed to care. He had quickly gone back to scan the menu, probably debating on what his second bowl would contain.

“Do you even have any money?” he asked, realizing that he himself definitely didn’t.

“Yup! I got some pay in advance from Iruka! He’s super nice.”

Naruto was beaming again, digging out a small non-descript purse and waving it in his face.

“Stop that.” He pushed Naruto’s hand down, pressing it against the counter for a couple of seconds while Naruto’s grin turned obnoxious.

“Jealous ‘cause you’re broke?” he snickered, as if he hadn’t been too until today.

“I bet I’ll earn more than you anyway.”

“No fair!”

Not that Naruto was actually upset though, judging by the mirth in his eyes. Sasuke had to avert his, thankfully saved by their bowls arriving. Sometimes, Naruto just looked _so happy_ for no other reason than them being together. He brought a hand up to absentmindedly rub at his chest as he waited for the ramen to cool down, not bothering to send Naruto a look of disbelief as he practically inhaled the scalding hot noodles. The past year had been… _different_ , to say the least. There were days when he could simply forget about everything and immerse himself in Naruto’s company, and then there were days when simply thinking about him made his chest hurt painfully with all the regret for the actions he never apologized for.

He wondered if Naruto had forgiven him, _truly_ forgiven him. Or if he’d simply brushed it aside as an unpleasant memory to focus on the future instead.

“Mmmmmm.”

Naruto smacked his lips in content, nudging Sasuke in the ribs when he noticed he hadn’t even started yet.

“Teme, you’re so slow,” he complained, and with a sigh Sasuke gave in and lifted his chopsticks, muttering a quick _Itadakimasu_ before eating.

Naruto started chattering about his day at the orphanage, pointing out his new work clothes and all the rules Iruka had tried to stuff his brain full with.

“I’m not allowed to curse! Like, at all! How am I supposed to remember that!”

“By having the kids all around you?” Sasuke suggested in a bored tone, Naruto puffing out his cheeks in annoyance.

“You try it then, you wouldn’t last a day!”

“Speak for yourself, dumbass.”

Naruto opened his mouth to retort, then his eyes lit up as he quickly changed the subject.

“But you know, the kids are really smart! Probably smarter than you were back then!”

“Mhm.”

“Asuna had an assignment on politics! Did we ever talk about that stuff? I can’t remember.”

Sasuke generally didn’t enjoy thinking back to his academy days, but figured he could make the effort just this once.

“If you’re talking about the power structures, then yes, we talked about it.”

Chin in hand again, Naruto tilted his head with narrowed eyes.

“Huh. Well this was like, who does what and also what it’s like in Suna. Did you know that if people aren’t happy with the Kage, they can just demand a revote and kick you out?”

“As opposed to what, killing you?” Sasuke’s lips twitched sarcastically, and Naruto at first made an indignant noise before sighing.

“I think Orochimaru and Madara are the only ones who’ve ever wanted to kill the Kages…” he trailed off, stiffening as if realizing what he’d said but knowing it was too late to take it back.

“Oh really?” Sasuke commented, face blank, pushing away the guilt he felt because damn, at the time he’d really thought they deserved it.

Naruto glanced at him, nervously licking his lips. This was a topic they hadn’t really discussed, but suddenly Sasuke felt as if it wasn’t so bad to talk about it. It was tiresome to keep everything to himself, worrying what Naruto would think, knowing all too well that there were things he would never understand about him.

“You can ask,” he added, casually lifting the bowl to down some of the broth now that it was at a reasonable temperature.

“Only if you want to talk about it.”

He placed the bowl back down, grabbing a napkin to dry his mouth, buying himself some time. Did he want to talk about it? He had already told Naruto once that he’d been fully serious with his intentions, which had made the meetings during the chuunin exam slightly awkward because Naruto kept acting as if someone would attack Sasuke all the time to get back at him.

“I did what I thought I had to do,” he settled for admitting, meeting Naruto’s serious gaze and holding it.

Something passed between them in the silence that followed, not that the vague tingling sensation was entirely new. He had often found that just by looking into Naruto’s eyes he could explain the things he never knew how to put into words, and when Naruto lifted his bandaged hand to place it hesitantly on his thigh, the feeling only increased.

“I’m not angry at you,” Naruto murmured, squeezing briefly with his hand when Sasuke nodded once. “But you did try to kill an important friend of mine.”

Sasuke couldn’t bear to maintain eye contact then, breaking it to poke into his bowl instead. There were many things he had tried to do, and Naruto didn’t even know of all of them. He felt guilty, yes, but part of him also wondered what would have happened if he’d succeeded. Would Naruto have hated him? Would they have fought, eventually, and would Sasuke have lost?

“Him being your friend wasn’t exactly a factor,” he whispered, feeling Naruto’s hand leave his thigh to brush away a few of the bangs hiding his face from view.  

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

He couldn’t help but blow some air out his nose at that, because Naruto was the last person who should need to apologize. Still, the thumb grazing his cheek wasn’t something he honestly could say felt bad.

Opening his mouth to tell Naruto he really didn’t need to feel bad about it, he was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

“Sasuke! How lucky that I’d run into you, dear.” The voice belonged to an elderly woman, her grey hair pulled up into a neat bun and her clothes definitely a telltale sign she was an Uchiha. “I need to give these to your mother, but I’m in a hurry. Do you mind?”

He blinked at her for a couple seconds, only remembering Naruto’s fingers on his cheek when he snatched his hand away as if burned.

“I don’t mind, but I won’t be coming back until tomorrow. Can it wait?” he asked her apologetically, the stray thought of how exactly they were supposedly related running through his mind.

“Oh yes, that’s fine. Thank you, dear!” She handed him a bag made of dark green fabric, which was definitely heavier than it looked, and patted his shoulder before winking at him. “Sorry to interrupt you on your date!”

Naruto sputtered, having distracted himself by drinking the last remains of broth in his bowl.

“What the hell,” he coughed after she’d left, fist covering his mouth. “I can’t believe she thought we were Menma and that perv!”

Sasuke wasn’t entirely sure that it would have mattered, but decided not to comment on it. He’d long since learnt to ignore other people’s assumptions.

“Maybe it’s because you’re not wearing orange,” he suggested instead, putting the bag on the ground and returning to his food.

“Haha, sure,” Naruto muttered. “Hey, Sasuke?”

As if the interruption had been forgotten already, Naruto gnawed on his lower lip while seeming to struggle with something.

“What.”

“You can ask me something too, if you want.”

The words came tumbling over each other, and Naruto looked very interested in the bottom of his empty bowl all of a sudden.

“…why should I?”

“Bastard! Because you answered one of mine of course! That’s only fair, right?”

It wasn’t the first time Naruto had tried this tactic on him in order to make him open up and actually talk about stuff. Though, he knew there were things even Naruto didn’t feel comfortable with, and rarely asked anything serious unless forced to.

“Aren’t you going to order another bowl?”

Naruto slapped his arm, glaring at him, but did wave at Teuchi to get started on his second round. Feeling things slowly return to a sense of normalcy, Sasuke enjoyed the peace and quiet while concentrating on eating. It wasn’t until he’d almost finished that he realized what it was that had been poking at his subconscious during their dinner.

No one was paying attention to him.

It might seem like a rather insignificant thing, but to Sasuke it made all the difference in the world. Even the times they’d walked through the village here, there would be girls whispering about him or other people simply recognizing him with a nod or a greeting. But right now, half hidden by the white curtains hanging from the restaurant’s overhanging roof, there was only Naruto’s presence to take note of. It was definitely a relaxing feeling, and he rolled a shoulder to get rid of some slight tension.

It was just automatic for him to tense up in public, too used to being wary of strangers, and too used to being stared at. He appreciated that about this dimension, that the most his counterpart was guilty of was some flirting…

“Fine, I have a question.”

Naruto immediately focused his attention on him, pausing his noodle fest.

“Just what did Charasuke do to you if you insist on calling him a pervert?”

Unexpectedly, Naruto blushed a bright red and ducked his head down so Sasuke couldn’t see his face.

“Obviously he was being a pervert!” Naruto told him hotly, his grip on his chopsticks tightening.

“You’ve never seemed bothered by perverts before, though.”

If Naruto was going to be so embarrassed about it, Sasuke might as well take the opportunity to tease him a little. There was a flash of blue as Naruto sent him a scathing look before defiantly crossing his arms and letting out a grunt.

“Yeah but they were just perving over my sexy jutsu, which is like, totally the point of using it! That guy is totally dangerous!”

Raising an eyebrow, Sasuke did his best to appear bored. It was difficult, considering Charasuke barely seemed to have enough presence to even seem threatening, which meant Naruto was either overreacting or the other ninja really _had_ tried doing something weird to him.

“Dangerous how?”

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him, gnawing on his lips again.

“Nope, you only had one question.”

“You didn’t answer it.”

Their gazes locked, Naruto becoming increasingly frustrated when Sasuke refused to back down.

“Well he said he wanted to have sex with me!”

Sasuke blinked in surprise, and Naruto’s face turned another interesting shade of dark red.

“Or, more specifically, he asked me to join him and Menma,” he muttered, fiddling with his chopsticks and ducking his head down in embarrassment again. “Isn’t that the most perverted thing you’ve ever heard!”

“I have a vague memory of someone asking me to join in on their reverse harem jutsu but…”

Naruto’s hand instantly tried to slap his arm, but Sasuke interrupted it easily. Clearly this was a touchy subject for him, not that Sasuke could understand why. Considering the amount of times Naruto had tried to peek on girls in the bath, and the years travelling with Jiraiya, not to mention his and Kiba’s conversations sometimes that Sasuke always tried his hardest to tune out but never successfully succeeded with.

“There’s no way that was the first time someone suggested that to you,” he finally said, Naruto’s body seeming to droop as he let his head fall onto the countertop.

“Oh sure, like you’d be perfectly fine with Menma making dirty suggestions to you while drooling all over your body with his eyes and in the middle of getting it on with Charasuke!”

There was just something about the utter _mortification_ on Naruto’s face that made Sasuke unable to help himself. He felt his lips twitch, laughter bubbling up his chest and throat. He tried to push it down, resulting in a choked snort, which caused him to smack a hand over his mouth. Naruto gaped at him, torn between shock and disbelief, which then morphed into insulted anger.

“Are you _laughing_ at me?!”

Sasuke shook his head, but his shoulders shook just as much with badly suppressed amusement. It’s not like he _wanted_ to laugh, Naruto’s face just did that to him. Though he’d probably send a Rasengan Sasuke’s way if he ever admitted that.

“You are such a _jerk_ ,” Naruto whined, his closed fist hitting Sasuke’s upper arm repeatedly, though there was no force behind it. “What about my innocence!”

Sasuke forced himself to take deep breaths, slowly calming down. He felt lightheaded, and even though the shaking and bubbling stopped, his lips refused to cooperate. In the end he had to bite them to use the pain as distraction.

 _Must be residual hormones_ , he thought. He’d have to talk to Orochimaru about that during the check-up.

Naruto had stopped hitting him, instead staring at him with a strange expression on his face, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. Not that Sasuke could blame him, the amount of times he’d laughed the past year were… limited, to say the least.

“You should laugh more,” Naruto told him, as if the thought had just struck him. “You look good.”

Then he caught himself, snapping his head in the opposite direction and placing his hands on the counter. His fingers were doing a little tap dance, stopping when Sasuke reached out and flicked his cheek.

“Oww, what was that for?!”

“Are you sure you really have any innocence left?” he asked, voice sarcastic as he ignored Naruto’s previous comment. “No one forced you to sleep in the same bed as him last night.”

“You weren’t supposed to leave me alone with him, either.”

Naruto was pouting now, leaning slightly against the counter’s edge. There were still the remnants of his heavy blushing lingering on his cheeks, and in the bright lamplight his whisker marks stood out more than usual.

“Well,” Sasuke concluded, straightening up in his seat. “It’s only a week and then Itachi and Shisui will move out, so I can have Itachi’s room.”

“Oh.”

Was it just his imagination, or did Naruto look slightly disappointed? It didn’t take long for him to recover, however, sending Sasuke a bright smile that just might have been a little forced.

“Hey, let’s go to the night market after eating!”

“Fine,” he agreed, letting out a small sigh. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do, anyway.

xxx

Sasuke had transformed his slippers into shoes, even though Naruto had offered to teleport back and get his shoes for him. He could teleport just fine himself if he wanted to. The market wasn’t particularly special, just some food stands and little booths selling trinkets. For something so small, Naruto was much too excited, in Sasuke’s opinion. Still, it was rather nice to simply walk around in no hurry as the sun slowly set, the market lit up by lanterns hanging above the road. There weren’t a lot of people since it wasn’t the weekend, which suited Sasuke just fine.

Naruto had counted his money, and unhappily concluded that he needed to save it.

“That’s like, the thing that sucks the most here,” he complained as they walked past a stand from where a delicious smell wafted out. “No money. Do you know how much I’ve been saving up back home? I’m super rich compared to now.”

“We should be happy we even get paid, considering we’re freeloaders.”

Naruto grunted, but soon cheered up again. He put his arm on Sasuke’s shoulder, patting his chest at an awkward angle.

“Well, that’s pretty great though! Everyone is so helpful here! Unlike a certain someone who never pays for my ramen!”

“I thought we weren’t on a date,” Sasuke couldn’t help but point out, raising an eyebrow when Naruto stumbled and made choking noises again.

“I didn’t mean it like _that_ ,” the moron hissed, face scrunched up in a grimace.”I just meant that sometimes you should totally pay for my ramen!”

“…right.”

“What?” Naruto demanded, eyeing him with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing. Are we done here yet?”

Pursing his lips in thought, Naruto looked around them before shrugging.

“Yeah, I guess. It would be more fun in the weekend, probably.”

“Good, because I need a shower.”

He was forced to stop mid-step, Naruto grabbing his arm and spinning him around so they faced each other. Then blue eyes searched first his face, before critically taking in his clothes and body.

“Have you been training?” Naruto asked in an accusing tone, looking at Sasuke like he’d done something horrible.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes! You were supposed to rest!”

“I can evaluate my condition myself,” Sasuke replied stiffly.

“Like hell you can! You never listen to what the medics tell you!”

“And you do?”

Naruto glared at him, and Sasuke just knew he’d soon get to hear the usual arguments on how Naruto had Kurama and it was different and blah blah Sasuke was always too reckless. However, instead of saying anything, Naruto reached out and pressed his thumb against the juncture between his shoulder and neck, hard enough that Sasuke couldn’t hide the slight wince it caused.

“You’re all tense, dammit.” Naruto pressed down mid-shoulder instead, holding Sasuke’s wrist when he tried to swat his hand away. “I bet you didn’t warm up properly.”

“I did,” Sasuke disagreed, but Naruto wasn’t listening to his excuses.

“Tch, we’re heading straight home and you’re taking a bath, and then I’ll give you a massage.”

“You don’t have to baby me,” he sighed, expecting Naruto to loudly disagree.

Instead, Naruto flinched, suddenly looking unsure of himself.

“I’m just trying to help,” he mumbled, combing a hand through his unruly hair, and something about his dejected look tugged at Sasuke’s heart.

“What, what’s wrong?”

When Naruto bit his lip, Sasuke wasn’t sure what to think of it. Was it something he said? But they always talked like that to each other, and he hadn’t even been angry about it. It was just tiresome that first Mikoto lectured him, and then Naruto, as if he hadn’t taken care of himself most of his life.

“No, it’s just, when you were acting weird before collapsing, you said…” Naruto glanced at him, then huffed and crossed his arms. “You said I was incredibly annoying for hanging all over you all the time. I’m just worried about you.”

“I said that?” Honestly, Sasuke could only remember vague bits and pieces of what he’d done between the meeting with Tsunade and knocking out Menma.

“Yeah.” Naruto met his gaze, but his face was still slightly downturned and he looked to be hugging himself more than simply crossing his arms. “But then you apologized and said we’d talk about it later.”

“Talk about what.”

“Well I don’t know!” Naruto swept his hands out, sounding frustrated. “You were doing and saying a lot of weird things! And also, the beat got all irregular!”

Naruto looked upset, his breathing slightly shaky as he gave Sasuke a helpless look. He didn’t like it, because it made him look vulnerable, and Naruto was supposed to be strong so that Sasuke never had to worry about him. Which of course he had to do all the time anyway, but that wasn’t the point.

“I’m fine now, at least.”

“Yeah, but for how long? We have no idea what’s happening to us! I-“ Naruto took a deep breath, staring intently at a small stand selling toys. “I don’t want to lose you,” he finished in a whisper.

Sasuke didn’t know what to do. Some part of him screamed that he should comfort Naruto, tell him everything would be fine, but another part that was more cynical knew that Naruto was right to worry about it. They truly had no idea, and whatever force they were up against had proven itself easily strong enough to manipulate their sage chakra and mess with their brains. Though, Sasuke couldn’t honestly say he understood why an enemy would make him feel _better_. And that old woman had-

He blinked in realization, having forgotten about her until now. No, that definitely didn’t seem like an enemy to him. It was strange, yes, but nothing about it had felt threatening.

“I don’t think what happened to me was an enemy’s doing,” he told Naruto, doing his best to sound calm and reasonable. “It wouldn’t make sense.”

“Unless they’ve got some freaky plan to make us feel falsely secure,” Naruto muttered, and Sasuke closed his hand into a fist and bumped it lightly on top of his head.

“There’s no point worrying about it. I’m fine now, so let’s just forget it.”

Naruto didn’t look entirely convinced, but shoved his hands down his pockets and started walking again.

“You better be fine,” was all he said.

xxx

But _was_ he alright? The question kept repeating itself inside Naruto’s head as they made their way back to the orphanage. Sasuke did seem calmer, that much he could tell. And he’d been able to talk about touchy subjects without closing himself off like usual. It was nice, but also served as a reminder for him that something had happened to Sasuke that left him slightly different and Naruto had only been able to helplessly watch him suffer through it. He wanted to ask what it had been like, if he could remember anything. He didn’t seem to remember what happened during his fight with Menma, and Naruto wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

He waved at the younger kids when they passed them inside the house, not bothering to stop and introduce Sasuke. Not that Sasuke seemed interested in being introduced, either.

“It seems like a decent place,” Sasuke commented once they were shut inside Naruto’s room, but Naruto barely heard him.

It was only now that he realized _just_ how narrow his new bad was. It was very narrow. Too narrow to comfortably fit two men without them having to squeeze a little.

“Naruto?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, it’s nice.”

Sasuke was giving him a strange look, but Naruto laughed a little and went to sit on the bed.

“So, are you gonna take a bath? Bathroom’s through that door, you can use the towel hanging there.”

For some reason he was feeling nervous, biting the inside of his cheek when Sasuke shrugged and stepped through the bathroom door. There was nothing weird going on, so why the hell did he feel like jumping out the window and running all the way over to Suna? It didn’t make sense.

A knock on the door startled him, and he quickly went over to open it and greet Iruka.

“Hello Naruto, sorry to disturb. I figured I’d bring you an extra towel, pillow, and blanket.”

“Oh, thanks!” He smiled brightly at Iruka and accepted the bundle of cloth, and received a pointed look in turn.

“Do you guys need any condoms or anything? I figured you might not have managed to buy any yet.”

Naruto’s body temperature went from normal to boiling lava in less than three seconds. He had no idea how to react to that question. His mouth opened and closed but his vocal cords wouldn’t function, his eyes stuck to the small paper box resting innocently between Iruka’s fingers.

“No need to be embarrassed,” Iruka told him with a gentle smile, placing the box on top of the pillow Naruto held tight like his life depended on it. “I’m in charge of sex ed at the Academy so if there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask. I get it can be a bit embarrassing to ask your parents, right?”

Naruto had no idea what sex ed was but he supposed it had something to do with sex. Which was definitely not something he wanted to think about right now. Still, he faked a tiny smile and let out an apologetic little laugh, Iruka still smiling at him.

“I’m sure you’re tired after today, so don’t worry about being social, alright? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you…”

Naruto had to clear his throat twice to make the words come out properly, and it took him almost a minute once Iruka had left to gather his bearings enough to walk over to the bed again and dump the bundle in his arms on top of it. The box looked so innocent, having slid off the pillow to lie on the light blue covers instead. He heard the water running from the bathroom, which meant Sasuke wouldn’t be out for a while. Most likely Naruto would have to go in there and drag him out.

Sasuke was naked in the bath. Which meant if he went to drag him out then he would see him naked, and when else were people naked? When they had sex.

He stared at the box. He needed to throw it away or at least hide it, because there was no way he’d live down the embarrassment of having to explain its existence to Sasuke. The reason he hadn’t touched it already wasn’t something he knew how to explain. Sure, he was used to being around perverts, but those perverts lusted over _women_. That’s what guys did, right? They tried to peek in the women’s bath, fantasized of big breasts, and wanted girlfriends. Back when he’d been travelling with Jiraiya, these things had never honestly appealed to him. Sure, he wanted to peek in the bath because clearly it had to be amazing, since everyone wanted to do it. And he’d wanted Sakura as his girlfriend because, well, he was supposed to want one and it would probably feel great, right? But it wasn’t something he had actively _wanted_. It was more of a second thought, something he remembered he was supposed to want.

When things had calmed down after the war, Naruto had gotten offers. Sometimes Sakura had to pretty much clog him over the head to make him realize some girl was hinting things or flirting with him, because he was always too busy with other things to properly notice. And then there was the whole crap with Hinata… no, he’d rather not think about that.

But he did find women attractive. That he knew for sure. So why was he staring at this package of condoms and freaking out over Iruka suggesting he use them with Sasuke rather than a girl?! He should just laugh at it or make a disgusted face and throw them away. That was the normal reaction, right? Right.

_You’re focusing too much on what’s considered normal. Since when was anything ever normal about you?_

Gritting his teeth at Kurama’s words, Naruto snatched up the small package to stare at it a little closer. Kiba had told him everything about how to put one on and stuff, because well, Kiba for one had used his newfound popularity to get lucky. Naruto always avoided talking about his own non-existent experience, because he couldn’t explain why he found no appeal in sleeping with girls just because he could. Besides, he was way too busy with Sasuke and training to be Hokage. If people assumed he had experience because of his travels with Jiraiya, well he wouldn’t bother correcting them since it really was none of their business.

 _Sasuke’s still the only person you ever kissed_.

Letting out a frustrated noise, Naruto crushed the box in his hand, watching as it wrinkled and broke.

“What the hell is your point?!” he snapped at the fox, because he was starting to get tired of all his hinting and suggesting and never saying what he meant.

_Think about it, brat. Wouldn’t you rather go join Sasuke in the bath than peek at some girl? I’m sure he’d make room for you._

“WHAT?!” Naruto yelled, because he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Kurama telling him to join Sasuke in the bath?! Was he going _insane_?! “What the hell are you talking about?! Have you been drinking something weird?! Is this because we haven’t trained in a couple weeks?!”

“What’s all the yelling about, dobe?”

Naruto swiveled around, finding a boxer-clad Sasuke in the doorway to the bathroom. He quickly hid his hands behind his back, swallowing hard. What was he supposed to say? ‘Oh nothing important, just Kurama suggesting we take a bath together…’ Yeah, that didn’t sound weird at all. In fact, it sounded extremely weird, and yet his heart was beating a staccato in his chest and there was a teeny tiny part of him going ‘but what if Sasuke doesn’t mind?’ and he had no idea how to deal with that.

“Nothing,” he croaked out, probably not sounding very convincing because Sasuke frowned and crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe.

“Did Iruka say something?”

“Umm, no.”

Sasuke was still not convinced and Naruto was panicking, not that he had any idea of why he was panicking so much. He should just show Sasuke the damn condoms and they could laugh about it and that would be it.

_Except you don’t want Sasuke to laugh about it._

Ignoring Kurama was becoming increasingly more difficult. Why did everything he said have to be so uncomfortable, and yet so… unsurprising?

“I was just arguing with Kurama, it’s nothing, really.”

Sasuke huffed, seemingly dropping the issue.

“You could argue more quietly,” he suggested before turning on his heels and closing the door behind him, allowing Naruto to let out a relieved breath.

Feeling the half crushed package digging into his hand, he searched the room for a trash can before realizing that Iruka might get offended if he walked in and saw it thrown away. Hiding it was probably better. Deciding that the closet was better than nothing, he placed the box on the top shelf and pushed it as far inside as he could. After closing it again he brushed off his hands, congratulating himself on handling the situation. People here were way too interested in pushing him and Sasuke together as a couple, and Naruto couldn’t understand why they were so insistent. No one at home ever commented on it.

Well sure, sometimes Kiba cracked a joke that Naruto and Sasuke were secretly married but no one ever took that sort of thing _seriously_. Yet, here, everyone seemed to think it was a fact. They never even _asked_ , just assumed. Was it something he’d said or done? Was it because they didn’t have a problem sleeping in the same bed?

Oh, shit. Did everyone think they were sleeping in the same bed because they were _having sex_? If so, then he supposed it wasn’t so weird. He sighed, feeling a little better. If it was just that, then it would be easy to correct people. He’d just have to mention Sasuke’s nightmares and stuff, and how their respective couches weren’t exactly that great to sleep in so it just became a habit.

Realizing he’d been standing still in front of the closet the whole time he straightened up and went to prepare the bed instead. If they slept on their sides there wouldn’t be a problem, he thought.

xxx

Sasuke had almost fallen asleep when Naruto started banging on the door.

“Dammit you’ve been in there for over an hour! I need to pee!”

Huffing, he sank lower in the water so that it just barely left his nose above the surface, wondering absentmindedly why Naruto didn’t just come inside instead of shout at him. He was so comfortable here, even if the water was starting to get lukewarm. Maybe he should just sleep in the tub. Now that his muscles were starting to relax, he’d realized just how tense he’d been the past days. Probably he did need a massage, too, even if he’d worked on some of the knots in his neck while soaking in the bath.

“Sasuke!”

“No one’s stopping you,” he called back, knowing the words would rile the other ninja up but thinking he deserved it for disrupting his peace and quiet.

When nothing happened, he glanced at the door in slight confusion. After a few seconds of more nothing, he heaved a sigh and pulled out the plug, letting the water disappear down the drain and reaching for a towel. He dried himself quickly, starting to wonder why the idiot was so silent.

The answer came when he opened the door, finding Naruto pacing back and forth while mumbling to himself. _Sure_ nothing had happened. Deciding to wait until the idiot noticed him, he leaned against the doorway with crossed arms, observing him quietly. He looked slightly upset, and kept denying that there was something he wanted to do. Probably he was arguing with Kurama again, though Sasuke couldn’t understand what the beast could possibly want Naruto to do that caused such a reaction.

“Not doing what?” he asked when Naruto’s mumbling had grown louder, raising an eyebrow when the supposed Hokage-in-line stumbled and caught himself on the closet, only to remove his hands from the wood as if it burnt him.

“Nothing!” Naruto exclaimed, glancing at him before looking anywhere else he could think of. “And you should get dressed.”

Wondering what was so wrong about the towel wrapped around his hips, Sasuke moved out of the way when Naruto practically rushed past him into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Strange. _Very_ strange. On the other hand, Naruto had a tendency to act strange now and then. Most likely Iruka had said something to him that he thought was too embarrassing to share with Sasuke, even though eventually he wouldn’t be able to keep it to himself and start ranting about it instead.

Satisfied with that explanation, Sasuke eyed the bed and wondered just what he was going to wear when sleeping.

xxx

Naruto stared at himself in the mirror, gripping the sink tightly. Alright, so he had already admitted that he thought Sasuke was good-looking, but that was just a fact. Anyone could see it. But, shouldn’t he be used to it? He’d seen Sasuke every day for the past year. There was nothing new about it. Sasuke was good-looking and he also smelled good and when he’d laughed today, Naruto had felt like, like _something_ because seeing Sasuke laugh was incredible. Sasuke was his best friend and he’d been way too gloomy most of his life and he’d finally laughed and it was just…

He was getting off track. The point was, Sasuke was good-looking and Naruto _liked_ looking at him.

There, he’d said it. He liked looking at Sasuke. Not just his face, but his chest and arms and stomach and legs and… He _really_ shouldn’t have felt a small pang of disappointment at the fact that Sasuke had been wearing a towel.

“What the hell is _wrong_ with me?” he groaned.

There were much more important issues to deal with at the moment, like how to go home and what had happened to Sasuke’s brain. Even if the brain part at least seemed to lead towards nice things so far.

 _I’m sure if you look at him long enough you’ll figure it out_.

“Stop making fun of me,” he whined, letting his forehead connect with the cool glass of the mirror.

This wasn’t a joke. Naruto was apparently starting to have trouble focusing around Sasuke, and he doubted his best friend would appreciate that. Sasuke already had enough people wanting him for his body, and he shouldn’t be one of them!

…okay, that sounded bad. Of course he didn’t want Sasuke for his body. He just, _appreciated_ that he took good care of it and was born with a pretty face. Maybe it was just all the stress getting to him now that Sasuke was okay again. Yeah, that had to be it. He’d been focusing so intensely on Sasuke the past week, well the past years in fact, so maybe his brain was just frustrated that he wasn’t looking at any of the girls interested in him and retaliated with this.

 _Sure, you tell yourself that_ , Kurama snorted. Well, what did _he_ know? He was just a fox. He didn’t know about the urges humans had. Wait, Kurama was a guy fox. Maybe he _did_ know?

“Kurama, do you think I need to… get laid?”

The moment the words left his lips he could feel his body almost shake with Kurama’s roaring laughter, his face turning a bright red. Angry at himself for giving the fox more stuff to tease him about, he turned on the tap and set it on freezing, splashing his face and hoping the heat in his cheeks would disappear. He was a healthy boy after all, and most of his friends were talking about girls and sex. Okay sure, Kiba was pretty much the only one who actually practiced what he preached, since everyone was still so busy with rebuilding Konoha and taking missions. But still, guys had urges, and Naruto never really… took care of those urges.

Kurama laughed louder. Naruto banged his fist against the mirror and cracked it. Well, shit.

“What the hell are you doing in there?” Sasuke called from the bedroom, and for a panicked second Naruto considered confessing everything going on inside his confused brain.

He decided against it.

“I saw a mosquito and used too much force, hehe,” he called back, hoping Sasuke would buy the excuse because he really didn’t know how to explain himself.

Figuring nothing would get better from fretting over it, he hurriedly used the toilet and then joined Sasuke, finding him sprawled out on the bed in only boxers. Not his own boxers, either.

“Did you take those from the closet?” Naruto asked, swallowing hard, but Sasuke only shrugged.

“I needed something to sleep in.”

“Oh. Yeah. Of course.”

Sasuke’s dark eyes were narrowed, examining him, but Naruto avoided eye contact. Which was a bad idea because instead his gaze trailed down Sasuke’s naked chest, taking in the defined muscles he’d seen so many times, and the v-lines starting by his hips and leading down to-

Wow. _Not_ a place he wanted to think about. Clearing his throat, he stripped out of his clothes and slipped under the covers.

“The lights are still on, dobe,” Sasuke told him, and Naruto remembered they weren’t supposed to sleep yet.

In fact, he was supposed to give Sasuke a massage. The thought shouldn’t embarrass him because it never had before, but now, apparently it did. Was it possible that their enemy was messing with his brain, too? Maybe if he closed his eyes he could fall asleep and forget the whole evening had happened at all.

Sighing, Sasuke got up and turned off the lights, amazingly enough not commenting about the lack of promised massage. Naruto wasn’t sure he could deal with touching him at the moment. When Sasuke came back, Naruto scooted a little closer to the wall to make room for him. Even though he was on his side, their arms touched since Sasuke laid on his back. It felt warm, and comfortable, Sasuke’s scent filling his nose with each breath. He wondered if this was how Menma felt whenever he was with Charasuke. Somehow, he didn’t think so.

“So what’s bothering you?” Sasuke asked, startling him.

“You’ve been asking that a lot lately.”

“What, I can’t ask?”

Naruto gnawed on his lips, trying not to think about the fact that when Sasuke turned his head towards him, their faces became close enough that he could feel his breaths wash over his mouth.

“You don’t usually ask.”

“And you don’t usually break mirrors, dobe.”

“How do you know it broke?”

Sasuke tsk’ed, as if fed up with his childish behavior.

“I’m a ninja, how do you think I know.”

Wishing he could scoot even closer to the wall but already pressed against it, Naruto wondered why Sasuke always had to prefer sleeping on the side that wasn’t by the wall. Sure, he said it was because if Naruto was going to kick him he’d rather get kicked onto the floor than squashed against the wall, but still. In situations like this it was very annoying.

“Did you really mean what you said in the morning?” he asked instead, after a moment of silence.

“About what?”

“About Menma and Charasuke. That if they’re happy together, it’s better than…”

“Than what happened to us?”

Naruto nodded, his chin bumping into Sasuke’s shoulder. He decided to keep it there.

“A lot of things are better than what happened to us.”

As true as it was, that wasn’t exactly how Naruto meant it. Things were good now, weren’t they? So was it really better that those two were together compared to their friendship? That wasn’t something Naruto had ever considered before. Sure, he’d heard about love stories, had seen the happiness in his mom’s eyes when she talked about how she and his dad met. But Naruto was happy too, and he didn’t know any girl that he thought would make him want to be with her instead of Sasuke. That’s how Hinata had phrased it, anyway. That she could be there for him instead of Sasuke.

But Naruto didn’t need anyone instead of Sasuke. He hadn’t thought too much about it, but he knew the normal thing was to find a wife later in life, maybe. Not everyone married. Jiraiya hadn’t. He probably had if Tsunade agreed to it, though. To Naruto, the thought of having a family seemed pretty surreal and very, very far away. So he hadn’t seriously thought about what a relationship was really like. If it was something that would come between him and Sasuke, then he didn’t want one anyway.

“It doesn’t really matter what you and I think about it,” Sasuke continued. “People like to meddle in other people’s business when they’ve got nothing there to do. I think it’s silly what Obito said, that it’s frowned upon because two men can’t reproduce with each other. Not everything is about having kids. Ninjas aren’t cattle, though some seem to think so.”

Sasuke’s voice had darkened by the end, and Naruto held his breath waiting if there would be more. Sasuke never really talked about these things, but it sounded like he’d given it some thought.

“What do you mean?” he whispered, hesitantly tilting his head so that his cheek fit more comfortably against Sasuke’s shoulder.

The contact felt reassuring, the heat making him drowsy as if just now noticing how tired he felt.

“The kages. The council. The daimyo. They think they own us, that they can send us towards our deaths when it’s convenient to them, tell us we’re not allowed to have feelings and abandon us and still expect us to feel _grateful_ for our existence.”

Sasuke paused, turning his head towards the ceiling instead, inhaling deeply when Naruto placed a palm on his heaving chest.

“And then they act surprised when people like Madara turn against them. People like me. Did you know there’s an orphanage in the Fire country?”

“There is?” This was the first Naruto had heard of it.

“Kabuto grew up there. Juugo told me he went back after the war. But they never sent _us_ there.”

He could feel Sasuke lift a hand and rub the center of his chest, and slowly he moved his palm to settle underneath Sasuke’s.

“Because we’re ninjas?”

“And dangerous. You’d think they’d treat the kyuubi jinchuuriki better, if they didn’t want you turning against them.”

“But I didn’t.”

“No.” Sasuke’s fingers slid between his, intertwining their hands, and Naruto’s chest felt as if a hundred explosions went off inside it. Painfully. “Because you’re better than them.”

 _Better than me_ , he could hear in the silence that stretched out inside the room, enveloping them in a cocoon where Naruto couldn’t pretend that everything really _was_ fine now. He shifted, pressing closer to Sasuke’s body heat, burying his face in his neck and wondering how they ended up talking about this. Maybe it was the fact that they were currently in a seemingly well-functioning orphanage, a place where Naruto could have enjoyed growing up. Maybe it was because Menma and Charasuke had such different lives compared to them, that they had been given a chance to actually be happy.

Not that Naruto considered himself an unhappy person. But things weren’t… ideal. Not for him, not for the village, and especially not for Sasuke. There was a reason Naruto sometimes woke up in the middle of the night with the fear that Sasuke had left again clutching at his heart. And Sasuke had told him once that it was better if the Uchiha clan died with him. He hadn’t known what to reply to that, just like he had no idea what to say right now.

“If I don’t forgive them, I wouldn’t know what to do with my life. What else is there?”

“The world,” was Sasuke’s simple answer. “But I can’t say it’s a much better place.”

Letting out a shaky breath, Naruto clenched his eyes shut. His head felt like it was overflowing with so many different emotions and thoughts. Too much had happened in such a short time, but no matter what, he was immensely glad that Sasuke was the one there with him, and not anyone else.

“Well who knows, maybe we’re stuck here forever,” he said in a feeble attempt at a joke.

At first Sasuke was quiet, and Naruto could feel sleep tug at him, the steady beat connecting them like a sweet lullaby inside his chest. When Sasuke did speak it was in a barely there whisper, his lips brushing the top of Naruto’s head.

“I wouldn’t count myself so lucky.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo. Naruto might be onto something. Next chapter we'll be getting the check-up with Orochimaru, and more talk with Tsunade. Possibly a cameo by Charasuke, too. Though his and Menma's resolution is further into the story, for now, Naruto and Sasuke are the main focus:3 As if they haven't been during the whole story lol. 
> 
> Bets on who confesses first??


	22. Naruto's guy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure what to say about this chapter. Que-bae looked it through and told me it's fine for posting so... any complaints go to her lol. Other than that, it's more plotty this time I'd say. Next chapter we'll see Itachi and Charasuke again:D

Sasuke woke up to the sound of incessant knocking and Naruto’s knee pushing at him to get up. As he untangled his limbs from Naruto’s, his sleep-befuddled brain chose not to linger on the fact that Naruto had been drooling a little on him during the night. It was a narrow bed.

Responsible for the knocking was a child, with fluffy light brown hair who barely reached mid-chest on Sasuke.

“Oh,” the child said. “You’re Naruto’s guy.”

Sasuke stared at him, and for a minute they simply stood there sizing each other up. Clearly this child was studying to become a ninja judging by the sharp look in his eyes, though he had a sour expression on his face. Deciding that the child posed no threat, Sasuke allowed himself a shrug and a frown once the boy’s words caught up with him.

“I am not anyone’s anything,” he replied irritably, not liking the roll of eyes that was presented to him. “Now do you have a reason for knocking or do you just like waking people up.”

To his defense Sasuke was not a morning person and definitely not good with children, but his snappish comment earned him a grin that took him by surprise.

“Do you have a reason for being so grumpy or didn’t you get any last night?”

The boy’s grin turned impish, but Sasuke only blinked at him.

“Get any what?”

The boy paused, surprised first and then laughing until he almost doubled over. Wheezing and trying to catch his breath he pointed at Sasuke’s face, which he had now set in a firm scowl.

“Honestly I don’t know but the _look on your face_!” Small hands slapped small thighs and Sasuke was not very amused about being woken up to have some kid tell weird jokes that neither of them apparently understood. “It’s just something I picked up,” the boy admitted, having regained his breath by now.

When Sasuke’s face didn’t so much as twitch, the kid darted his eyes nervously between him and the end of the corridor, his fingers fiddling with his sleeves.

“Don’t tell Iruka-sensei, okay? I thought you’d be more like Naruto.”

“Like how?”

“Uh, well…” The boy trailed off, staring at Sasuke now as if seeing him for the first time. “Is Naruto awake?”

“No.”

The boy was looking increasingly fidgety, and Sasuke realized that it was probably due to the faint killing intent rolling off him. He took a deep breath, calming himself down. He’d been warm and comfortable, and he didn’t appreciate standing barefooted in the slightly chilly morning air coming in from some window further down the corridor. But maybe he was overreacting a little bit.

“Well?” he asked, leaning slightly against the doorframe in a casual pose, the effect on the previously tense boy evident.

“Iruka-sensei told me to wake you up so you can help out with breakfast, and then you have an appointment with Orochimaru and the Hokage.”

“I see,” Sasuke murmured, then promptly straightened up and closed the door before walking over to the bed and kicking Naruto awake.

xxx

Breakfast was a lively affair. The boy who woke him up was called Mitsuru, and he seemed to enjoy arguing with Naruto as well as poke fun at him. Naruto retaliated, of course, but spent most of the time cracking bad jokes and trying to help Iruka with varying success. Sasuke had chosen to stand, eating quietly and trying not to feel misplaced as opposed to how Naruto seemed to fit in perfectly. It seemed like the kids had taken a shine to him already, eager for his attention and pointedly ignoring Sasuke. Maybe Mitsuru had told the others that he wasn’t exactly approachable.

Which isn’t to say that Naruto didn’t _try_ to include him, but Sasuke was rather left alone. To have the kids looking at him with the same excitement as they showed towards Naruto wouldn’t just feel strange, it would feel _wrong_. He wasn’t exactly a role model. In fact, no one in their right mind would put him anywhere near children, which brought him to more urgent matters. The fact that Tsunade had sent for them could only mean one thing, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

Thankfully breakfast didn’t last long, and soon they found themselves waiting for Orochimaru to call them in for their check-ups.

“They’re pretty cute though,” Naruto said, yawning wide and hugging one leg close to his chest. “If you ignore how rude they can be.”

“Maybe you could teach them some manners,” Sasuke offered, and it took Naruto maybe two seconds to realize he was being mocked.

“Hey! I was never rude! _You_ were a total rude ass, though.”

“Towards you? Definitely.”

Had they been twelve, Naruto would have already thrown himself at him, punching and kicking wildly. As it was he settled for a mean look and a kick to his shin that Sasuke didn’t even bother blocking.

“I’ll get you next time we spar,” Naruto hissed, crossing his arms and sinking lower in his seat.

Before Sasuke could reply the door opposite of them opened, revealing Orochimaru in all his glory. It was definitely going to take some time getting used to how old he looked. He even had wrinkles.

“Ah, my troubled dimension travelers, good to see you again.

The voice was the same though, surprisingly dark and lilting. Sasuke remembered the feeling of snakes slithering along his body, their hissing in his ear… Naruto cringed next to him.

“So just what is this check-up about?”

Orochimaru’s eyes focused on Naruto, and Sasuke had to resist the urge to step between them. He had failed to protect his teammates from the snake sannin once, and it was not a fond memory. He’d thought he’d suppressed it successfully, but over the past year all those memories he’d buried deep within himself had slowly returned, and this coupled with his brain apparently behaving differently from before only made the memory that much clearer.

It was a terribly uncomfortable feeling, causing him to rub at the place where his curse mark once sat until he caught himself.

“Oh, the usual,” Orochimaru answered with a vague flick of his hand. “Well, usual for us I mean. It’s just a general check of your physical and mental health to see if you need a more thorough one.”

Naruto didn’t look particularly satisfied by that, still slumped in the plastic chair and with a suspicious tilt to his mouth. When Sasuke stood up to follow Orochimaru inside he frowned, lips tilting downwards instead.

“Are you sure you wanna start?” he asked, but Sasuke gave him a light shrug.

He preferred knowing rather than waiting, and Naruto would probably cause less of a fuss if he saw Sasuke come back unharmed.

“It won’t take long,” Orochimaru reassured them, and led Sasuke into his office.

It looked similar to Sakura’s, though Sasuke had only visited it once. There was a chair, a desk littered with papers, books on medicine on shelves along the walls, a small table filled with various equipment, and of course an examination bed that looked rather worn with age.

“Sit,” Orochimaru told him, motioning towards the bed. “I ran some tests already while you were unconscious so I don’t think I’ll need to do them again.”

Sasuke nodded, sitting perfectly still while Orochimaru looked through some papers, most likely his file.

“Of course, most things are exactly the same as for this world’s Sasuke,” he continued, picking up another much thicker file and weighing it in his hand. “What’s your medical history? Any hereditary illnesses that run through the family?”

Hesitating, Sasuke stared at Charasuke’s file. He wondered if they were really identical.

“I don’t know,” he finally replied.

Itachi was the only one he knew of who had been sick, and he didn’t know the symptoms or name for the disease. He’d rather not think about it at all.

“Well,” Orochimaru sighed, sitting down in his chair and placing the files back on his desk. “You seem fairly fine, but it’s obvious you’ve been through some tough fights. The skin cells on part of your chest seem slightly different, for example. How come?”

“I was hurt.” He shrugged, letting his eyes run over the books on the shelves. He only recognized a few of them from Orochimaru’s extensive collection. “One of my former teammates has a special kind of regenerative cells, so he transplanted some to me.”

“In the midst of battle?”

Their eyes met, and Sasuke could tell that there was something the other man wasn’t telling him.

“Yes.”

Orochimaru gave him a searching look, but didn’t comment further.

“And your eyes are fine again. You still haven’t explained why you’re not _supposed_ to go blind eventually.”

Sasuke said nothing.

“You have few scars, but the ones you have tell a lot. Your chest,” Orochimaru dragged a finger down his own throat and the middle of his chest, mimicking the path of it on Sasuke’s body, “is one example that you’ve fought for your life and almost lost. It’s a rather sloppy healing, but functional I suppose. Only visible if you know what to look for.”

Again, Sasuke said nothing.

“Your left hand shows extensive, strenuous use of lightning based techniques. Either you’ve pushed yourself too hard during training so many times it has passed the bar for ‘plain dumb’, or you’ve had no other choice. In fact, your entire body shows signs of it. If you weren’t young and healed easily you’d be feeling it for sure.”

Self-conscious, Sasuke clenched and unclenched his left hand, knowing he’d been close to burn out his chakra nodes in the past. Tsunade had commented on it, too.

“Still, your body is a bit worn. No one your age should have a body like that.”

To hear something like that from Orochimaru was a little ironic, considering his alternate self had wanted his body in prime condition for when he planned to take it over.

“In the best of worlds, there wouldn’t be a need for ninjas at all,” was Sasuke’s simple answer.

“Of course.” Orochimaru gave him a wry smile that looked decidedly out of place. “Would you at least consider taking better care of yourself in the future?”

“You think I got these for fun?” The words left his mouth before he had time to think them through, but the older man held his hands up in a placating gesture.

“No,” he said, his tone serious. “But I think that you are training too hard and too frequently. What use is your strength if it renders your left hand useless before you reach thirty?”

Staring at the fresh bandage covering most of his left palm, Sasuke kept his face impassive.

“Your right one isn’t far behind, either.”

Another round of silence, while Orochimaru narrowed his eyes in contemplation.

“You already know this.” It wasn’t a question. “If I thought you’d follow my advice, I’d tell you not to use any damaging techniques for at least a year. Give the body time to heal properly, instead of ripping open old wounds.”

Sasuke flexed his fingers.

“Well then, let’s move on. How is your head?”

“Still suffering from hormones.”

Orochimaru let out a quiet chuckle.

“Is that so? Here, let me check.”

He walked over to Sasuke, placing his hands gently on each side of his head. Sasuke could feel the gentle thrum of chakra, surprised to note that he smelled a bit different here. Less cave and snakes, more antiseptic and clean. It took him a couple of minutes, but soon he stepped back with an amused glint in his eyes.

“Everything seems perfectly fine,” he announced, sitting down again and waiting for Sasuke’s response.

“Fine?”

“Yes. Fine.”

“But-“

Sasuke struggled to come up with an explanation. Things were different. He felt things differently. It made him feel less in control…

“I’m sure it must feel strange. I’ve tried to come up with a good theory on what exactly happened, but I’m still not entirely sure.”

“Tell me.”

“Well, there isn’t that much to tell. The hormones are the visible part of it. They act like signals, and to put it simply you’ve had a shortage of certain signals and now they’re back to a healthy level. For example, you haven’t been eating enough. You should have a better appetite now, and feel less stressed.”

“I’m not stressed.”

Orochimaru merely looked at him.

“Of course, there’s more to it than that. My best guess is that there’s a connection to your Sharingan. Does anything feel different about it?”

“I… yes. Less pain.”

Nodding, Orochimaru leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful look.

“I think your Sharingan was blocking something. Maybe there was a bit of intentional blocking, as well.” Sasuke’s eyes hardened, but he said nothing. “Fugaku graciously helped me do some research, and there have been cases where the Sharingan had side effects such as depressive thoughts, increased anger and so on. Basically the brain tries to protect itself from the emotional pain that triggered it by blocking certain positive emotions, so that it doesn’t happen again.”

Sasuke thought of Tobirama’s explanation, and the curse of hatred. Was Orochimaru suggesting in a roundabout way that the curse had been lifted? Ridiculous. That was wishful thinking.

“It’s difficult to say when I don’t have much to compare with. I think the easiest way is for you to take note of what you feel is different, and compare it to how you felt before. Like I said before you’ll probably feel an increase in appetite, perhaps differences in your sleeping pattern. Have you noticed anything the past two nights?”

Well, his sleep depended entirely on whether or not Naruto was close. If Naruto was there he usually slept alright, for the past months at least. It was almost as if his body had slowly grown accustomed to his presence and listened to the beat connecting them to determine danger rather than waking up at every little sound.

“It’s hard to say, I’ve been sleeping better the past months already. But I feel well rested.”

“And your sex drive?”

Not exactly something Sasuke had pondered, or found relevant at all.

“I feel calmer,” he said instead, shrugging. “My mood has improved… I laugh too easily.”

“How easily is too easily?”

Sending the amused medic a glare, Sasuke tried to come up with an answer that would explain things but not reveal too much.

“More than usual, then.”

“Well,” Orochimaru said in a conclusive tone of voice. “Personally I think you will only feel better from here on out. However…”

He frowned, looking Sasuke over as if he were a piece of code he needed to translate. It was not entirely pleasant.

“Tsunade will be asking for your version of the story today. She wasn’t too happy with Naruto leaving out a lot of details last time, it seems. I don’t know what happened to you but it’s rather obvious it wasn’t pleasant. Still, it’s important that we get the information.”

Orochimaru reached for a drawer, retrieving a small glass bottle and handing it over to Sasuke. Recognizing the label, his eyes instantly found the snake sannin’s apologetic ones.

“After that little… _incident_ at the Akatsuki hideout, I figured it was better to give you a choice. You can tell the information the easy way, or…”

“Or what, you’ll torture it out of me?”

Orochimaru’s eyes widened in horror, which was strangely satisfying to see.

“No! We could never do that.”

“But I’d still have to talk.”

They looked at each other for a long moment. Contemplating his options, Sasuke couldn’t say there was anything that seemed very appealing to him. Still, be it because of his newfound hormones or some other type of tampering that old lady had done with his brain, the thought of telling his story didn’t feel like the crushing weight it usually did. In a way, it was comforting to know that no one here had any previous misconceptions about his actions. They knew nothing except for what he would tell them.

He thought of Itachi, the tears streaming from his eyes as he left Sasuke next to their dead parents. Thought of Orochimaru, and the experiments he’d been forced to witness. Thought of team Taka, and discarding them in his darkest moments like they meant nothing to him.

Thought of Naruto, blood pouring out of a wound in his chest…

Rolling up his right sleeve to bare the inside of his elbow, Sasuke wordlessly handed the glass bottle back to Orochimaru.

If he was going to talk, he didn’t want to be interrupted.

Least of all by himself.

xxx

By the time Naruto’s examination was finished, Sasuke already felt pleasantly numb. Normally he’d never resort to something as lowly as using medical drugs, but right now he didn’t trust himself to keep a grip on his emotions.

“Come on, let’s go,” Naruto said, looking vaguely irritated. “I don’t get why we have to come back every second day, there’s nothing wrong with us!”

“They’re just following protocol.”

Naruto sent him a put out look, shoving his hands down the pockets of his work pants. Since today was a bit more on the chilly side he wore a thin hoodie in a dark green color, of course also provided by Iruka. It felt odd, to see him dressed in anything but orange or those patterned t-shirts he liked. It made him look older somehow. Different.

“Do you think it’s going to rain?” he asked instead as they left the hospital, scrunching up his nose at the sight of dark clouds hanging low in the sky.

Sasuke shrugged, enjoying the side effect of the drug. He felt relaxed, like nothing could annoy him at the moment. It could start pouring and he wouldn’t mind.

“I wonder what baa-chan wants,” Naruto continued, as usual filling in the silence. “Probably just nag us for more details.”

He lifted his face in thought, and Sasuke found himself tracing the curve of his chin with his eyes, then down his throat to linger on his exposed collarbones. Green suited him.

“Umm, Sasuke?”

Startled, Sasuke realized he’d zoned out.

“What?”

“You were staring.”

Naruto looked embarrassed, rubbing his neck as if Sasuke’s gaze had tickled him.

“It’s weird to see you dressed properly.”

“What the hell!”

Their bickering continued the short distance to the Hokage tower, Sasuke easily having the upper hand in it since nothing Naruto said could rile him up. Instead he couldn’t help but feel amused at the agitated waving and gesturing Naruto did, his voice continuing to rise as he informed Sasuke just how much better his fashion sense was. He even mentioned the skirt again, but Sasuke only snorted and dismissed Naruto’s poor understanding of culture and history.

They were met by Nawaki and led to the same room below ground, with Obito, Tsunade, and Shizune already present.

“I hope you’re feeling better?” Tsunade asked him, and he gave a short nod as he sat down. “Well then. Here’s a recap of what Naruto told us, so you’ll know what gaps to fill in.”

“Whoa, wait a minute,” Naruto protested, standing up with his hands placed on the table. “You agreed that Sasuke wouldn’t need to talk.”

“Just sit down, dobe,” Sasuke sighed, leafing through the papers Tsunade had handed him. “I’ll make it brief. Unlike you, I don’t talk until people’s ears fall off.”

Naruto didn’t take the bait, blue eyes narrowing dangerously.

“No,” he said. “That was the deal.”

Ignoring him, Sasuke scanned the text. He hadn’t been listening properly at the time, and was surprised at how seamlessly things were fitted together if you ignored the gaping hole left by his own absence.

“Sasuke,” Naruto insisted, forcing him to meet his eyes.

After a long minute of staring at each other, Sasuke reached out with a foot and tripped the moron so that he sat down in the chair, holding up a hand to silence him.

“It’s my story,” he told him calmly, “and I decide what to do with it.”

Tsunade cleared her throat, glancing at Naruto before focusing on Sasuke again.

“Good. Since you are _both_ here, we need the full story.”

“Why?” It was Naruto again, his eyes hard as steel. “I told you everything about our enemies and our fight with Kaguya. The rest is personal!”

When Sasuke took a hold of Naruto’s hand he seemed to deflate, lowering his eyes to scowl at the floor instead.

“You did leave out a lot.”

“Fine,” Naruto muttered. “Do what you want. Nobody listens to me anyway.”

Sighing lightly, Sasuke decided to keep his hand where it was. It would be easier to stop Naruto from interrupting him, and if it also gave him a small sense of comfort, well he was too drugged to pretend he didn’t need it.

“I’m not sure where to start,” he said mostly to himself, combing a hand through his hair and shifting in his seat.

“Just start at the beginning,” Shizune suggested, looking at him with what he supposed was meant to be encouragement.

“Oh really. And what would be the beginning… But you already know about Obito.”

He rested his cheek in one hand, thankful for his numbed emotions. Naruto’s thumb brushed over his, and he could feel just how tense his best friend felt. Though, of course, this story wasn’t pleasant for either of them, and very much personal.

“To put it very short, my brother murdered our whole clan on orders from the council, then-“ He faltered. It wasn’t good enough as an explanation. “No, after Obito attacked Konoha and tried to steal the kyuubi, my clan wasn’t trusted. We were pushed away to the outskirts of the village, monitored, treated badly. No one told me, thinking I was too young.”

He paused, wetting his dry lips. He kept his gaze firmly fixed on the table below him, no longer leaning into his hand but keeping his head bent.

“Itachi was in the Anbu, acting as a double spy. Spying on the village for the clan, and spying on the clan for the village. He was thirteen.”

There was a quiet gasp, most likely from Shizune.

“My clan wasn’t happy, and could see the corruption within the system. Shisui tried to stop them from revolting, but Danzo stole one of his eyes, and so Shisui later committed suicide after giving his other eye to Itachi. Before my parents could stage their coup d’état, Danzo gave Itachi a choice.”

Naruto’s thumb was caressing the back of his hand now, slow and steady, and Sasuke took a deep breath that felt painful despite the numbing drug he’d taken.

“To either let a civil war break out and have the village fight until everyone was dead anyway, or kill the clan himself but with my life spared.”

There was a stunned silence, but Sasuke pressed on, not wanting to deal with questions or comments.

“He chose me. Not that he told me this. So I grew up thinking he had just turned mad, and spent my time training to become strong enough to kill him.”

“And no one else told you?” Obito looked horrified when Sasuke shook his head, leaning back into his chair and gripping at his hair with both hands. “I can’t believe it. They must have done _something_ , right?”

Sasuke had glanced up at him but averted his eyes quickly, feeling his emotions fighting the numbness in waves.

“I grew up alone. Like Naruto.”

He could hear Naruto open and close his mouth, as if wanting to say something but deciding against it.

After that, he quickly described how he’d trained and then gone off with Orochimaru, thinking he could skip his fight with Naruto.

“I was with him for about three years, then-“

“Hold on a minute, didn’t anyone try to stop you? Try to bring you back?”

Another silence, this time breathless, waiting. Even if he’d wanted to, he couldn’t form the proper words to tell them. Not this. It was too big and too hurtful and too full of old wounds he didn’t want to think about. As numb as he was, there are some things you just can’t talk about.

“Of course we tried.”

It was Naruto, his voice quiet, brittle like glass shards. His hand clenched Sasuke’s, steadying him.

“In the end he came back on his own.”

“Hardly.” Sasuke was surprised by how hoarse his voice sounded, breathing in deep before continuing. “But I was manipulated. Controlled. By Itachi. Orochimaru. Obito.”

Closing his eyes, he reminded himself of the past year, and the strange feeling of loss that came from no one else pushing him in a certain direction.

“Naruto couldn’t stop me from leaving, and even if he had I would only leave again. It was inevitable.”

He paused again to gather his thoughts, irritated by the interruptions. Yes, he was going to tell them what happened, but there were things they didn’t need to know.

“I trained under Orochimaru, then killed him. I gathered up a team and searched for Itachi. I killed Deidara. I fought Itachi, and he kept up the act until just before he died. Obito found me and told me the truth, about why Itachi killed everyone and that he joined Akatsuki to keep me and the village safe. I decided to destroy Konoha, and joined the Akatsuki. Then I found Danzo, and he confirmed what had happened, so I killed him too.”

All of this he said in a low, monotone voice, wanting to be over with it quickly. Naruto was growing increasingly tense by his side, which wasn’t strange considering he didn’t have anything to numb the emotions brought back by talking about it. Add to that the fact that Sasuke had never properly told Naruto exactly what happened and in what order… Though he probably knew anyway.

“Danzo was the Hokage stand-in at the time, and I attacked him at a meeting between all five kages. If it weren’t for the war, I’m sure I would still have a death sentence hanging over my head.”

Not that he regretted it. Killing Danzo was a favor to the world, and he knew Naruto agreed with him in that.

“I was on my way to Konoha when I met the resurrected Itachi… Well Naruto told you we fought Kabuto. He explained a few things to me, and I decided I needed more answers. So I brought Orochimaru back, from another person’s curse mark. And that’s why the previous Hokages were resurrected, Orochimaru did it on my request. And well, I decided to join the war on Konoha’s side.”

Taking a break, he contemplated how to describe the rest. He’d been so conflicted at that point, even more so by Naruto’s presence. Part of him still wanted to crush Konoha, another part was tired of everything and just wanted to die. Then there was the part that Indra was in control of, heading for darkness and complete control.

And, of course, the part that won in the end.

“So talking to Itachi and the previous Hokages changed your mind, then?”

Tsunade’s light brown eyes bored into his when he met them, and it was clear she wasn’t convinced by her own words.

“No,” he said. “I had… contradicting plans. I hadn’t decided. But then when we talked to the Sage of the six paths, and I told him about what I wanted to do…”

He hesitated. He hadn’t told Naruto about this, and especially not what Indra had caused him to say, to want, to think was the only logical solution. Up until then he’d been fairly in control of himself, but aided by the Sage’s chakra, Indra’s lingering consciousness had made its move.

“He sent me into my own mind, and I realized that I was also, to some extent, being manipulated by Indra’s chakra.”

Naruto sucked in a breath next to him, the thumb that had been caressing him stilling.

“I was sick of it, sick of not being in control. All my life people had been telling me what to do, where to go, what would be best for _them_.”

He thought of Sakura, and her pathetic attempts at making him think that as long as he pretended everything was perfect and let her be all over him, he’d feel happy. He thought of Kakashi, and how enraged he’d felt that he was so useless, how it had only made it clear to him that leaving was worth the price of giving up control. Almost. It wasn’t worth hurting Naruto.

“So I defeated him, then woke up and we defeated Kaguya. Then we went back to Konoha.”

“The end,” Naruto muttered, then rubbed his face vigorously and straightened up in his seat. “Well, was that good enough?”

Sasuke raised his eyes, finding the four adults listening to them in different stages of shock, disbelief, and tears.

“I won’t ask more,” Tsunade answered, sighing deeply. “I also brought you here for Obito to tell you about Madara and Hashirama, if you feel up to listening right away.”

Naruto shrugged, still in a bad mood. Sasuke went back to feeling pleasantly numb now that he didn’t need to think about it anymore.

“Alright,” Obito started, clearing his throat before glancing at Sasuke. “It’s not a very uplifting story either.”

When no one replied, he continued.

“As you know, the bijuu have no consciousness of their own, only acting as mindless beasts. It wasn’t like that before, they were rather friendly, really, until they suddenly started to go wild. When Madara and Hashirama were in their early twenties they fought the bijuu, and captured them to be sealed for control. During the fight they received sage powers from Kaguya-“

“From Kaguya?” Naruto asked, looking interested now.

“Oh yes, I told you she’s good here, right? They were in a bad spot and she gave them enough power to defeat the bijuu, on the condition that they wouldn’t harm them and only keep them safe. So the five villages split them between one another, but left the kyuubi to Uzushio since they were the best at sealing and the kyuubi was the one causing the most trouble. Though, Hashirama fell in love with Mito who became the jinchuuriki, so eventually they decided to agree on the kyuubi changing villages.”

Obito looked pointedly at Naruto, clasping his hands in front of him on the table.

“Since the Uzumaki clan seemed best fitted for sealing the kyuubi within themselves, the kyuubi was sealed in Kushina once Mito died. And now, Menma as well.”

“Did the same happen in your dimension?” Shizune asked, turned towards Naruto. “With Uzushio, I mean.”

“Not sure.” Naruto thought for a bit, staring into nothing. “Since Uzushio was destroyed when my mom was a kid… I never asked.”

“Destroyed?”

Again everyone looked horrified, which wasn’t strange he supposed. If that village was a strong ally of Konoha here too, it would seem weird that a powerful force like Konoha wouldn’t save them.

“Kurama says it wasn’t like that. He was captured by Madara, and sealed into Mito as a sign of Konoha’s power and alliance with Uzushio.”

 Obito nodded, then continued to explain.

“Uzushio still exists here, and they help with the sealing. That’s their part in the power balance, even if they don’t have a bijuu. Konoha used to have the ichibi but gave it to Suna instead.”

Naruto let out a laugh, but quickly caught himself.

“Sorry! It was just something Kurama said to me. Just ignore it.”

“I told you before that they lost their sage powers after the fight, but they still had tattoos on one hand each. Eventually, Madara gained the Rinnegan again.”

“And this was when he went crazy?” Naruto asked, fiddling with the bandage on his right hand, the one holding Sasuke’s.

“I’m not entirely sure if the Rinnegan triggered it, or if it was when Hashirama told him they couldn’t see each other anymore.”

Naruto frowned, but before he had time to ask again, Obito continued.

“Yes, they were seeing each other even though Hashirama was married to Mito. He loved them both but had to marry her for appearances, since Madara was seen as rather troublesome. In a way he was, especially the Second didn’t like him or the influence he had on Hashirama. I suppose there were several smaller things building up. That or he suffered from the same thing as the bijuu.”

Things went quiet again, but Sasuke figured they had talked about everything they needed to. Naruto was squirming in his seat, however, gnawing on his lips and looking torn between frustration and embarrassment when Obito motioned for him to talk.

“Is everyone gay here?” he blurted out, raising four pairs of eyebrows. “I mean, it’s so different from at home…”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Obito mused, leaning back in his chair and eyeing Naruto. “I heard you had a little argument over sexualities with some of the Akatsuki.”

“That’s the point, _everyone_ here seems like they’re gay. I was just wondering if that’s one of those opposite things between our worlds.”

“Idiot,” Sasuke sighed. “You probably just haven’t noticed before because people aren’t open about it.”

“Oh yeah? Give me one example of someone who’s gay at home then!”

“I’m sure you can discuss that on your own,” Tsunade interrupted them with, sharing a look with Shizune that Sasuke couldn’t fully interpret. “But there are a lot of straight people here, I assure you.”

She smiled, and Shizune and Nawaki nodded in agreement with her. Obito’s smile was more apologetic, and definitely amused. It felt as if the tension in the room had been broken, at least.

“Sorry,” Naruto mumbled, rubbing his neck.

“Are we done then?” Tsunade asked, making a move to stand up.

“I have a question.” Everyone looked at Sasuke, who thought that if he’d been forced to endure talking about his past, there was no point in withholding something that actually happened _here_. “What does Kaguya look like?”

He received a few surprised looks, especially from Tsunade.

“You don’t know? I assume she looks the same in both worlds.”

“Young, long white hair, byakugan eyes?”

She shook her head at his description, a thoughtful wrinkle making its way onto her otherwise smooth face.

“No, my grandfather described her as rather old.”

“I see. Then I’ve met her.”

“What?!” Naruto exclaimed, letting go of his hand to grab his arms instead. “Why didn’t you say anything!”

“I wasn’t sure it was her.” He shrugged. “She didn’t say anything interesting, anyway. It was just before I woke up in the hospital.”

“We have a painting of her, that might help decide if it really was her or not,” Tsunade suggested, and Sasuke nodded in agreement. “What did she say?”

“She wouldn’t tell me why I’m here, only talked about how long sticks would burn.” When he received odd looks, he clarified. “She said even the sun would burn out eventually, but what matters is how soon it burns out. Then she made me light a stick, asking me why it was burning. It didn’t make sense. I thought it was just a fever dream, at first.”

“So you think Kaguya messed with your head? Dammit Sasuke, why didn’t you tell me until now!”

Naruto was shaking him lightly, fingers digging into his biceps, eyes intent and worried. Of course he was worried. When wasn’t he?

“I didn’t make the connection until now, relax.”

Naruto did relax, barely. His hands slid down Sasuke’s arms and for a second, he admitted to himself that he missed their warmth once they lost contact with him. ‘Messed with’ was a good description.

“Well, then,” Tsunade said, sounding tired. “I guess that’s it for today. Sasuke, you’ll rest another day and continue to work under Fugaku from tomorrow on. Naruto, I expect Iruka has already given you instructions. Tell me if you think of anything that might have brought you here.”

xxx

Naruto was still unhappy as they made their way out, and Sasuke could feel the numbness wearing off to be replaced with fatigue.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

Sasuke heaved a sigh, and then another one when he saw that there was a steady drizzle of rain outside.

“No, really.” Naruto stopped only a few steps away from the entrance, not caring if anyone else was within earshot. Which they were. “You’re the one babbling about how we need to be careful and shit, and then you _don’t tell me_?! Teme! Don’t let it happen again!”

During his little tirade, Naruto had moved closer to him until they were nose to nose, but not touching. It wasn’t an unusual position for arguing, but Sasuke felt distracted by it. Naruto wasn’t really angry, but he probably wouldn’t listen to Sasuke’s excuses at the moment. No, more importantly, Sasuke realized with horror that Naruto’s nose was quite possibly a tiny bit higher up than his own. He looked down between them, to his relief finding Naruto standing on the balls of his feet, heels not touching the ground.

“Sasuke! You’re not listening!”

If Naruto grew taller than him it would be awful.

“I didn’t know you were done talking,” he said, and there must have been something in his eyes because Naruto’s angry expression softened, disappearing with a quiet sigh of resignation.

“Sorry, I just…” He hesitated for a moment, then took a hold of Sasuke’s wrist and pulled him outside.

He didn’t stop until they’ve passed several blocks, instead pulling him into an alley where people wouldn’t see them unless they looked closely.

Then he punched Sasuke.

“What the-?!”

He’d been too surprised to even think about blocking or avoiding it, though there hadn’t been more force behind it than needed to turn his head a bit. And probably give him a swollen lip, judging by the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

“That’s for not telling me,” Naruto explained with a nasty scowl.

“I told you I didn’t connect the dots-“

“You’re supposed to be a genius!” Naruto yelled, slamming a hand against the rough wall of the house next to Sasuke’s face. “At least tell me you had a weird dream before waking up!”

He was breathing heavily, clearly upset again. When Sasuke didn’t answer he pressed closer, close enough for their breaths to mingle and their chests to brush.

“I didn’t think about it,” he said, not knowing what else to say.

He hadn’t seen the outburst coming and was trying to deal with the half suppressed emotions of guilt and defiance. Naruto scowl turned even nastier, but it wasn’t the kind of look he would give an enemy, or even a friend who made him angry. While Sasuke tried to decipher it, only knowing it made him feel all sorts of awful, Naruto seemed to come to his senses.

“You _have_ to tell me, Sasuke. You have to tell me everything.”

Oh. This wasn’t about the dream at all. Or maybe some part was about that, but it had probably been building up longer than that.

“I’m fine. Promise.”

Naruto didn’t say anything, only stared hard into his eyes for several, long moments.

“That’s not what I meant,” he finally sighed, shoulders sagging. “It’s just so goddamn _frustrating_ to not know what’s going on! At least if it was Kaguya messing with your brain I’d feel a teeny tiny bit better since she’s supposed to be good here.”

He looked so defeated, his hair starting to plaster to his forehead in the increasing rain, his expression too open and vulnerable for Sasuke to dismiss it.

“Why would someone trying to kill us go through all this trouble? Last time Obito revealed himself fairly quickly, right? And this doesn’t feel like a genjutsu. There’s no point in worrying until something happens.”

When Naruto lowered his head instead of replying, Sasuke pushed his chin back up with two fingers.

“It’s not like you to worry about things like that.”

To his surprise, Naruto continued to look miserable.

“What do you know,” he mumbled. “You weren’t there to see when-“

He bit his lip, then pushed himself off the wall and stuck his chin out, eyes a defiant, electric blue, droplets of water trickling down his face.

“You’re right,” he said, sounding like he’d found his confidence again. “And when I find out who’s behind this, I don’t care what kind of tragic backstory they’ve got. If they try anything, I’ll kill them.”

Ignoring the small shiver running down his spine, Sasuke almost smiled. _This_ was the Naruto that made him stay in the village, even if the worried one was also important to him. The number one most surprising ninja, who stood up again no matter how many times he’d fallen first. Fierce and feral and loyal to a fault.

Sasuke felt the urge to reach out and hold him close, wipe away all memory of his earlier hesitation, leaving only strength and determination.

But when the moment passed, Naruto ran a hand through his wet hair and frowned at him. Then he reached a hand out to wipe off the blood that had gathered in the corner of Sasuke’s mouth, staring at it covering his fingertips.

“I can’t believe we’ve only been here two weeks,” he said, wiping the blood off on his pants.”I feel like enough shit happened to last us a year.”

Sasuke nodded, still leaning against the wall.

“Do you think everyone’s okay back home? I mean it can’t look good that I ran off with you the day before the anniversary.”

“They probably realized it wasn’t intentionally. I mean, would you really just up and leave everything if I told you to?”

Naruto looked at him, his eyes a darker shade in the rain. It seemed as if he was contemplating the question, but couldn’t come up with a good answer. Which, in itself, was rather telling.

Sasuke wasn’t sure what to think. He knew that Naruto cared about him, hell he even acknowledged that they’re best friends. But for Naruto to go so far as to leave the village on his request…

Maybe he’d do it. Maybe Sasuke could simply ask and Naruto would follow him wherever he wanted to go. The thought was almost frightening to him, that Naruto cared enough to put Sasuke’s interests above his own.

Then again, wasn’t that exactly what Sasuke had been doing the past year?

An uneasy feeling settled within him as they continued to stare. He didn’t want to think about his feelings in regard to Naruto, because he didn’t know if he would like what he found. Yes, Naruto was important. Yes, he would give his life to protect him because what else could he do? It was a rather helpless feeling, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“We should keep going,” he broke the silence with, averting his eyes. “You need to start working, and I need to pick up that bag.”

Naruto’s eyes were still boring into his skull, the mood sullen and layered with something deeper, something almost tangible but never brought fully into the open. Then Naruto sighed, and the moment was lost.

“Alright, but from now on you better start telling me stuff.”

“Are you going to tell me why you broke that mirror?” Sasuke retorted as they made their way out of the alley.

“I told you it was a mosquito.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Naruto crossed his arms and huffed, as always quick to forget his anger. Before they could launch into another argument, however, an all too familiar voice interrupted them.

“There you are!”

It was Hinata, her hood covering her head but not much else, hanging off her shoulders. She looked like she’d been waiting for them somewhere dry, judging by the few water drops darkening the fabric.

“Sakura sent me to tell you that we’re having a barbeque tonight, and you’re invited.”

The way she said it, it sounded like an order more than an invitation.

“I don’t know…” Naruto started, but she crossed her arms underneath her breasts so that they bunched up and threatened to spill out of her fishnet top, and Naruto instantly faltered and looked anywhere but at her.

“Eight o’clock at Ikki’s, we’ll celebrate Sasuke’s good health.”

With that she turned and hurried down the road, not even sparing Sasuke with a glance.

“I guess we have no choice then,” Naruto sighed, pushing his hands down his pockets.

“We might have had if you didn’t get distracted by her breasts.”

Naruto’s indignant shouting turned the heads of most people braving the rainy street.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well well, a barbeque huh? That doesn't sound innocent at all. I smell an orgy.
> 
> Just kidding. What a shame. But I do smell Sasuke's brain starting to think of important things... dun dun dunnnnn!!!


	23. Moving forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating a lot for this story, aren't I. I should pay attention to the other ones I'm so behind on... 
> 
> Anyway, this chapter, I'm expecting some yelling and throwing chairs, all out of love of course. 
> 
> As always, I'm not crying you're crying.

After Sasuke had picked up the bag and left, Naruto went into his room and stood in the middle of it, staring into a wall. Iruka was out shopping and had brought the kids, which left Naruto with a few tasks to do around the house. He knew he should start as soon as possible, but found himself unable to push away the thoughts spinning through his head.

Sasuke hadn’t been acting like himself, _again_ , and Naruto’s _everything_ hurt thinking about the calm and collected way he’d spoken about his past. That’s why he’d punched him, thinking it would break him out of his strange behavior. But it hadn’t.

 _I’m guessing he took something,_ Kurama mused, and Naruto decided to join him for easier conversation.

Looking up at the huge fox lounging in his cave-like home, Naruto tried to push down the helpless anger that filled him every time he as much as thought of Sasuke being forced to remember the darker parts of his past.

“What do you mean he took something?”

Kurama shrugged, his tails curling around himself.

“Obviously he was too calm, ever since we left the hospital. I’m sure Orochimaru gave him something to make it easier for him to tell them what they wanted to hear.”

Naruto wanted to punch something, _needed_ to. He sank down to the wet ground, burying his face in his hands. He didn’t want to think it was true, but it made sense. Kaguya’s fiddling with his brain had made him seem more sensitive rather than the opposite, and he wished he’d stopped him. He could have told them everything instead, but he knew that Sasuke didn’t like appearing weak.

“Dammit,” he groaned, rubbing his face as if trying to get rid of the nasty feeling in his chest.

Why couldn’t things ever be easy for them? Why did Sasuke, who had already suffered so much, have to be reminded of the pain constantly? At least in this world people didn’t hate him. At least in this world, he had a chance at a happy life…

There was a tight knot in Naruto’s stomach whenever he thought about the future. He wanted Sasuke with him, but was it really what Sasuke wanted? To stay by his side as he became Hokage in a village that had hurt him beyond repair? He constantly feared Sasuke leaving again, because he couldn’t think of anything really stopping him. Sure, they shared an important bond, but Sasuke deserved better than what the village could give him.

Even if Naruto did everything he could to make things better for Sasuke, there was a gnawing, raw doubt whether he would really be able to change things or not. What if there was another war? What if people refused to even accept Sasuke ten years from now?

“Whining doesn’t help,” Kurama sighed, stretching a paw out to flick Naruto in the chest. Or rather, his paw was about as big as Naruto himself, which made the action slightly awkward.  “And I bet people won’t start liking him unless some kind of miracle happens, but they accept _me_ as an asset to the village, don’t they? As long as you’re there, they’ll come to accept him.”

“Accepting isn’t enough. I have to make them _understand_ , but I don’t think they ever will. Even Sakura-chan doesn’t understand and she was his teammate.”

“And it doesn’t really help that people might be thinking he convinced you to leave the village, does it?”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

Kurama’s silence was telling enough. Of course he would. He’d do anything for Sasuke. That was the part that scared him the most.

“But still, if he stays with me…” He let out another groan, falling headfirst to bury his face in the fur covering Kurama’s paw. “I want him as my closest advisor when I’m Hokage, I’ll need to know that people will listen to him.”

“Maybe you should do as Shikamaru suggested, and keep Sasuke out of the light for a while,” Kurama said, waving his tails around to create a small breeze. “At least until you’ve switched out the council members.”

“Yeah, sure. They’re gonna live until they’re a hundred years old.”

“Kill them?” When Naruto glared at him, Kurama huffed. “Fine, think up a valid reason to replace them, I don’t know. I’m not a politician.”

“And I am? I hate that stuff. Besides, I feel like everything we do at home is stupid anyway, compared to how they do things here.”

Kurama carefully pushed him so that he sat up again, retracting his paw. He could only cuddle for so long, after all.

“Then stop being a whiny brat and do something sensible with your time here!”

Slowly, Naruto blinked as an idea took shape in his head. Kurama was right, there was a lot he could learn here, and now that it seemed they’d be staying for a while… Not that Naruto hadn’t learnt stuff the past year, he had just focused on other things like putting teams together, responding to threats, assigning missions…

But he’d show them. He’d promised Sasuke he would change things, and he intended to keep that promise. Content with his decision, he went about completing all the household tasks Iruka had assigned him, thankful that Sasuke had somehow managed to teach him to clean and do laundry properly.

When he picked up the kids from the Academy, he’d make a point of speaking to some of their teachers.

xxx

Sasuke had simply placed the bag on the kitchen table, grabbed a few bananas to eat, and then fallen headfirst into bed. This type of drug was better to sleep off, to avoid any side effects. Not that it was a difficult choice, seeing as one effect of it leaving the system was making you feel exhausted.

So he slept, and thankfully didn’t dream much. When he woke up it was already late afternoon, and his head felt like it had been filled to the brim with cotton. _Wet_ cotton.

Still, he thought it was a small price to pay for not having to deal with the pain of retelling certain events of his past. Even now the emotions threatened to take a hold of him, and grabbing some fresh clothes he figured he’d better come up with a distraction. Training seemed like a good one.

His lower lip and part of his jaw still felt tender from where Naruto had hit him, but a quick check in a mirror told him it wouldn’t become a very big bruise. Big enough to alert his mother, possibly. Maybe he should think of an excuse.

As he stepped out onto the porch he found Itachi in the garden, in the middle of working through a series of kicks. You’d think that watching him would bring about painful memories, but it didn’t. There were only a few times he could remember watching his brother train, and Itachi had been very young back then. The older Itachi was someone he had mostly seen performing genjutsu, under very different circumstances. Still, the graceful way of moving was the same, the clothes, the ponytail, his chakra signature. Watching him felt surreal, because he _had_ seen him die twice, and this Itachi was very much alive and healthy.

At least it served to sober him up a bit, his head clearing up as he took careful note of Itachi’s precise movements. He was skilled, no doubt, but Sasuke couldn’t help but think that he was weaker than his real brother.

“I see you’re awake,” Itachi noted, still engrossed in his training but sending him a quick glance.

“I am.”

“Hungry? I’m almost done here.”

He was panting slightly, entering a combination of slow, smooth punches that looked to be muscle control training.

“I was thinking about training.”

Itachi paused, relaxing his body as he turned to face him, a small frown on his face. He contemplated Sasuke for a couple of seconds, then gave a small nod.

“I’ll take a break and you can warm up a bit, then let’s do some sparring.”

Opening his mouth, Sasuke was surprised to find no words coming out. It took him a moment to come to the realization that this was the _first time_ he’d ever been asked to spar with Itachi. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to _feel_.

“Unless you want to train on your own?”

Sasuke shook his head. He could sense a small part of him jumping up and down in excitement over this opportunity, and another part recoiling in horror because as much as he’d wanted to train with Itachi as a child, actually doing it was bound to bring up unpleasant thoughts.

“I’ll spar with you.”

His voice sounded hoarse to his own ears, and he quickly averted his eyes and walked out onto the flat patch of grass in the middle of the garden that showed signs of wear. Itachi took his place on the porch, stretching a little and drinking from a water bottle.

As Sasuke went through his usual warm-up routine he tried to empty his mind, immersing himself in the familiarity of it. Though, as much as he tried he was all too aware of Itachi’s eyes following his every move, pulling up old feelings of insecurity and the need to prove himself that he thought he’d locked away permanently. He almost felt _nervous_ , his fingertips tingling once he finished his preparations and Itachi strolled back towards him.

“Taijutsu only?” Itachi asked, and Sasuke nodded. “I’m excited to see just how good you are.”

Flustered, Sasuke had to take a moment to collect himself before slipping into a fighting stance. He wondered what Naruto would think if he saw them. Probably yell at him for training when he should rest.

“Ready?” Itachi asked, and Sasuke replied by attacking first.

Itachi was as good as he’d thought, which meant that if this was a serious match, Sasuke would win. The knowledge felt like a heavy weight inside his chest, but was pushed to the side by the excitement he found reflected in Itachi’s eyes.

They moved in a blur of attacks and defenses, finding a rhythm that matched them both and wouldn’t wear them out too soon. Slow enough that their eyes could follow, but fast enough to be a bit of a challenge.

Soon all depressing thoughts left his mind, leaving only an almost childish sense of joy. He found himself grinning when one of Itachi’s kicks grazed his chin, controlled perfectly so that it wouldn’t hit if Sasuke had been too slow to avoid it. Naruto wouldn’t have had any qualms about hitting, but Sasuke appreciated his brother’s extreme sense of control. He’d always admired that, despite the way he’d used it sometimes. Nothing he ever did was on impulse…

Just as he’d thought that, Itachi’s footing slipped and Sasuke caught him easily in a throw, sending him to the other side of the garden.

“You’re lucky I didn’t hit any flowers,” Itachi calmly said as he returned, and Sasuke managed to look ashamed. “That said, I haven’t been thrown by anyone in years. You’re good.”

“Well, you did slip,” Sasuke admitted, rolling a shoulder and hoping this didn’t mean the sparring was over.

“Don’t be so humble, it makes me feel even worse about it.”

Even so, Itachi was smiling at him, flicking his wrist to signal they weren’t done yet. This time Sasuke went on the defense, wanting to see Itachi’s reaction. At first, he simply raised an eyebrow. Then he frowned, increasing speed a little. Then he put more force behind his attacks, satisfied when Sasuke had to jump back a little before adjusting.

Eventually Itachi pulled back, chest heaving lightly with the exertion.

“I’m not sure if you’re playing with me or actually holding back,” the older man accused, and Sasuke blinked in surprise.

Of course he was good, but he wasn’t _that_ much better, right?

“I didn’t realize I was giving you a hard time.”

In retrospect it probably came out less apologetic than he’d intended, because Itachi pouted at him before flexing his fingers.

“Alright, you did knock out the kyuubi in one punch. Sharingan?”

Sasuke hesitated, then nodded.

“Just tell me if it turns into the Mangekyo, I couldn’t separate them before so it’s possible I won’t notice.”

“I remember you said that,” Itachi agreed, starting to circle him slowly, red eyes focused on every movement.

Fighting someone else with a Sharingan was always special. Though, the few other times he had, he’d been more focused on survival, and breaking through any genjutsus thrown at him. To use it only for taijutsu gave him a momentary flashback to his fight with Naruto, when he’d first been able to see movements before they happened and be conscious about it, use it to his advantage.

To spar with someone who could do the same turned out to be a match in speed. If you were quick enough to see, were you also quick enough to react?

It was a few minutes into the spar on these new conditions that Sasuke realized he’d spent the past year sparring with Naruto, often in a Rinnegan vs Sage mode setting. And not the Toad sage mode, but the one Naruto liked to refer to as ‘Ultimate Sage Mode’. Compared to that, Itachi was laughably slow. Not that he minded. It had been a long time since sparring with someone other than Naruto had been enjoyable.

When they paused later, Itachi was almost out of breath.

“Incredible,” he forced out, “You’re not even winded.”

Sasuke shrugged, not wanting to admit that sometimes, he and Naruto spent entire nights sparring. Or days. Or he spent a night sparring with Naruto and continued training into the day so that he wouldn’t need to think about things, if he was having a bad day. He did feel a bit more tired than usual, however, but he supposed Itachi didn’t want to know he was still feeling a lingering effect of the drug he’d taken.

“I spend a lot of time training,” he ended up explaining when Itachi kept looking at him expectantly.

“How much time is a lot of time?”

Sasuke avoided his eyes, taking in the various marks of their spar that littered the grass. An upturned tuft over there where he’d braced himself, a flattened stretch where Itachi had rolled to avoid one of his attacks.

“Sasuke?” Itachi’s voice sounded genuinely questioning, and Sasuke met his eyes again. “Why would a great ninja like you be doing construction work? I mean I know you said you volunteered, but… surely they’d need you for missions too.”

“Ask Obito,” he replied, too quickly judging by the look of concern sent his way. “I think I’ll take a shower.”

His good mood had instantly dropped, and he walked back towards the house before Itachi could ask more. Telling the story of his past, even if it was in brief words, wasn’t something he wanted to do twice in one day.

He paused in the doorway, fingers sliding down the doorframe as he felt Itachi’s eyes following him.

Itachi’s eyes, the same ones that resided inside Sasuke’s eye sockets.

“Sorry,” he said quietly.

Not knowing what else to say but frustrated that nothing else came to him, his fingers slipped from the wooden frame as he left for the bathroom.

xxx

The shower had consisted mostly of him standing still with hot water beating down on his shoulders, staring unseeingly at his feet. He quite liked his feet. They hadn’t failed him so far.

At this point in life he should have accepted that trying not to think was a waste of time, but he stubbornly tried at least once a day. Thanks to Kaguya it seemed his brain preferred to focus on enjoyable emotions rather than the opposite, however, and he spent the time reminiscing about the time he spent with his brother before everything changed.

Usually those sorts of memories would lead into darker thoughts, but now he was able to focus on them without returning to that nightmare continuously. They still held a bittersweet tinge, and he doubted he’d ever be able to remember his brother in only positive ways. Their final meeting had eased some of the pain at least, making him able to accept that no matter what Itachi had done to him, deep down he had always been loved unconditionally.

It didn’t mean Sasuke forgave him, but it made things better.

With that thought resolutely in mind, Sasuke entered Charasuke’s bedroom in search for clean clothes.

“That’s my favorite shirt, asshole.”

Sasuke paused, one hand holding a hanger supporting a dark green open-collared shirt with the Uchiha emblem on the back. Charasuke was sitting in the window, one knee bent up with his chin resting on it, dark hair moving gently in the early evening breeze. He’d been so absorbed with his own thoughts that he hadn’t noticed him.

“Really?” he asked, observing the garment with a frown. “Don’t you have anything blue in your closet, at all?”

Charasuke glared at him, holding out a hand demandingly and straightening up. Sighing, Sasuke went over to give it to him, but found himself grabbed by the front of the towel around his waist and pulled close to an angry copy of himself.

“I don’t want you here,” Charasuke hissed, forced to look up at him since he was still sitting. “You think you can just show up and worm your way into my family? Go back to your own dimension, no one wants you here! And stop wearing my clothes!”

He snatched the shirt from Sasuke’ stunned hands, turning his head to pointedly ignore him.

Sasuke pushed him out the window.

“What the _fuck_ is your problem?!” Charasuke had landed on his feet, staring up at him with eyes wide, fists clenched to his sides.

“Why don’t you come up here and find out?”

Hearing Sasuke’s obvious threat, Charasuke seemed to calm down a bit. Biting on his lips, he carefully made his way back up the wall, eyeing Sasuke warily. He stopped with one hand on the window sill, the other still holding the shirt.

“I saw you spar with Itachi,” he mumbled, keeping eye contact but not attempting to climb inside. “Did you _really_ knock out Menma with just a punch?”

“I was using chidori.”

Charasuke’s face scrunched up, making him look rather childish.

“Kakashi’s technique? No wonder he was so pissy about it.”

“What’s wrong with using it?”

Dark eyes blinked rapidly at him, then a nervous smile spread across Charasuke’s face.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that.” He tried to wave Sasuke’s anger off, only managing to hit himself in the face with the hanger. “Stupid thing,” he muttered.

When Sasuke took a step back, he hauled himself up to sit with one leg on each side, pursing his lips in thought. It reminded him of Naruto just before asking something especially stupid.

“Hey, can you teach me how to use it?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Sasuke snorted, not anticipating the stricken look on Charasuke’s face his words caused.

“Oh. I mean, yeah, of course you wouldn’t…” Charasuke placed the shirt on the window sill, the Uchiha emblem staring back at them. “I’d just embarrass myself, anyway.”

To say Sasuke was completely floored was an understatement. Sure, what he’d heard and seen of Charasuke didn’t exactly paint a picture of someone who put his everything into becoming a great ninja, but never had he thought that those words would ever leave his own mouth, alternate version or not.

“You can’t use it without the Sharingan, that’s what I meant.”

Charasuke only produced a small, forced smile, fingers fiddling with the green fabric in front of him. He was wearing loose green pants and a purple tank top, headband wrapped tightly around his forehead, and Sasuke couldn’t possibly understand how they were the same age. This person looked so… fragile, somehow. Small and unassuming, with little presence. Like he could snap like a twig.

“You should get dressed,” Charasuke said, not looking at him. “I’m sure nii-san is worried that you spent so long in the shower.”

“Why are you so sad?”

It was the only thing spinning through Sasuke’s head. This Sasuke had everything, _everything_ , and yet he looked so heartbroken. But what did he know about him, really? A womanizer and a pervert, Naruto had described him as. Childish and emotional, Sasuke had concluded after the first night.

“Why?” Charasuke burst out, swinging the leg on the outside over the window sill and standing up. “Why am I so sad? You don’t know shit about me!”

He pushed Sasuke in the chest, glaring death and murder, but the quivering of his lips was a telltale sign Sasuke had poked at a sensitive spot.

“True,” he admitted, unsure of how to handle a clearly upset alternate version of himself. Hell he didn’t even know how to handle _himself_ when upset. “But you have a family. You have peace, no…”

_No scratch on your forehead protector._

“What, does that mean nothing could ever make me unhappy? Maybe my _family_ makes me unhappy!”

Charasuke hadn’t raised his voice, but the searing hot anger was evident in the way his hands shook, in the way he breathed harshly, in the way the shirt and hanger was thrust against Sasuke’s bare chest.

“Fine!” he exclaimed in frustration when Sasuke didn’t reply, letting go of the shirt so that he was forced to grab it. “You can have them. Just take my life, I don’t want it anyway! They already like you more than they like me. I’ll just-”

Charasuke paused, anger morphing into confusion as he stared at Sasuke.

“Are you- shit, are you _crying_?”

Sasuke’s hand flew up to his eyes, feeling the tears gathering there. He didn’t know what it was, just that, hearing Charasuke speak like that about his life… When Sasuke would do _anything_ to have it all back.

“I’m not-“ he started, forced to stop when his throat constricted painfully.

Everything seemed to spill over at once, talking about his past, arguing with Naruto, his memories of Itachi and the fact that everything was so _different_ here. It was all too much, too good and too painful.

“What did I- I mean I- are you okay?”

Sasuke sank down in a crouch, hiding his face in his arms. He hated crying, hated the helpless feeling it brought out and the rawness in his throat.

“Shit, don’t cry, just don’t- fuck I was supposed to _hate_ you,” Charasuke babbled, sinking down on his knees and brushing through Sasuke’s bangs with gentle fingers. “I mean you could beat Itachi in ten seconds if you wanted, just punching out tailed beats like it’s nothing, you look like you’ve got your shit together I just-“

Unable to force down the sobs any longer, Sasuke felt his shoulders give a violent shake as the first one racked through his body.

“Oh come on, I’m the one who wants to cry, dammit!” Charasuke was cradling his head now, or at least what he could see of it, face close enough that he could feel his body heat. “Shit I didn’t transfer that telepathically or something? Because then I just _know_ you’re going to kill me, I mean I don’t know how this dimension stuff works but-“

“ _Shut up,_ ” Sasuke hissed through his sobs, because if that was true then yes, he might actually consider it.

“Well stop crying then!” Charasuke shook him lightly, and Sasuke lifted his head to glare at him.

To his surprise, there were tears gathered in the corners of Charasuke’s eyes as well, and for a moment they simply scowled nastily at each other.

“You look terrible when you cry,” Charasuke sniffed, grabbing his shirt off the floor to wipe his not-quite tears off before starting to dab at Sasuke’s cheeks.

“Fuck off.”

“You know you just told yourself to fuck off.”

“So? Maybe I meant it.”

A bubbling laughter took shape in Charasuke’s belly, making it as far as his lips before being quenched, making it come out like a pained snort instead. He wouldn’t stop pressing his shirt to Sasuke’s face, however, and thankfully his annoyance with it won, meaning the sobbing stopped.

“You’re awful. And I still don’t like you.”

“You and the rest of the world,” Sasuke muttered, swiping at his hand and drying the rest of his tears with a hand.

“That’s not true. Naruto likes you.” There was the beginning of an amused smile on Charasuke’s face as he sat back to look at Sasuke. “He was hugging me pretty tightly the other morning.”

“Yeah, well, Naruto is an idiot so he doesn’t count.”

Charasuke huffed, slapping him with the shirt. For a favorite shirt he sure wasn’t handling it carefully.

“If Menma liked me half as much as Naruto likes you, I’d be-“ He took a sharp breath, all signs of amusement suddenly gone.

“You’re not dating, then,” Sasuke concluded, easing his grip on his knees and trying to relax a bit.

That fragile look formed on Charasuke’s face again, and Sasuke realized with a nauseated feeling that it was _rejection_. He knew that feeling all too well. Though, Charasuke still managed a brave little smile, bangs hiding his eyes.

“I’m sorry for being so angry at you, I was just… The things Menma said to me, and then seeing you spar with Itachi when he _never_ wants to spar with me…”

“He never spars with you?”

There must have been something in his voice, because Charasuke raised his eyes at him in surprise, then recognition. Heaving a sigh, his alternate self turned his head with a pout.

“No, but I can’t blame him. I mean he’s away a lot, and I’m not exactly fun to spar with.”

“Fine,” Sasuke said, exasperated. “Fine. I’ll teach you chidori.”

“What?!” Charasuke’s disbelief was almost comical. “But why, I mean I don’t have the Sharingan and-“

Shrugging, Sasuke heaved himself up to his feet, his throat still sore.

“Maybe you’ll get the Sharingan one day. Even if you can’t use it, you can learn it.”

“You’ll quit after one day because I suck.”

Despite his words, Charasuke was positively glowing now, scrambling to his feet as well. Sasuke took a few seconds to rewrap his towel, then met Charasuke’s eyes. He was standing much too close to be considered proper, dark eyes swirling with emotions, and Sasuke was painfully reminded of the fact that those eyes would never again stare back at him in a mirror.

“Everybody sucks at first.”

“Yeah…” Charasuke didn’t look convinced. “I doubt you ever sucked.”

“Hm, maybe not. Naruto sucked though.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?!”

“He’s stronger than me.” When Charasuke’s doubt only seemed to increase, Sasuke shrugged again, crossing his arms. “You’ll see, I guess.”

They stared at each other in silence for a long moment, neither entirely sure that this was a good idea.

“You’ll _really_ train me?”

Something about the way he said it made Sasuke wonder if he’d ever been trained at all before. Still, he did have his forehead protector so at least he was a genin, but he more resembled a child who had just been told it could switch from practice shuriken to real ones.

“I might as well.”

Then Charasuke grinned, his whole face lighting up, and Sasuke briefly wondered if he’d _ever_ grinned like that, because he could only think that Naruto had transformed into him and failed to act the part.

“Maybe you’re not so bad after all,” he mused, and before Sasuke could understand what was happening he’d grabbed his face and planted a wet, smacking kiss on his mouth.

Sasuke kicked him out the window again.

xxx

Naruto found all the kids gathered outside the Academy’s entrance, dutifully looked after by Asuna.

“Hey everyone!” he grinned, deflecting a blow and kick from Yoshie. “Did you have fun today?”

“Yoshie bloodied a guy’s nose,” Katsumi informed him, nose buried in a notebook. Her fringe hid most of her face and Naruto wasn’t sure if she was serious until Yoshie launched another series of tiny punches onto his side.

“He wouldn’t stop pulling at her braids,” Asuna explained, scratching her neck awkwardly as Yoshie now added loud attack names to her punches.

“Sugar punch! Drop dead punch! I hit him with a rolling thunder punch!”

“Hey. Hey!” Naruto grabbed her wrists, sitting down on his haunches to face the struggling child. “No need to punch _me,_ you know.”

He gave her a lopsided grin, but she tugged at his hold with a cute pout. At least Naruto thought it was cute until she stomped on his foot.

“I’m gonna defeat you and become the strongest ninja ever!” she yelled, then seemed to deflate, biting her lips. “He kept teasing me,” she muttered, playing with the end of one braid when he let go of her and scraping her sandal-clad foot on the ground.

“Well,” Naruto said, “you didn’t break it, did you?”

She shook her head.

“Then I’m sure it’s fine. Okay? He probably deserved it.”

Smiling shyly, she nodded at him, then held her arms out for him to pick her up. Which he did, wondering how exactly you were supposed to carry children correctly. Asuna giggled behind her hands, though Katsumi didn’t look amused by the whole situation. Mitsuru and Takumi stood a bit away from them, apparently engrossed in some type of playing cards. He still hadn’t managed to get more than two words out of Takumi, not counting the introduction, but it was good to see that he and Mitsuru seemed friendly with each other.

“Hey, um, Asuna? That politics teacher of yours…”

“Jiraiya-sensei?”

The casual way she said it sent a cold shiver down Naruto’s spine. He felt like he was forgetting something, and like Jiraiya being here would be too good to be true. Still, he had a good reason for seeking him out.

“Yeah. Do you think he’s still here? I have something I wanna ask him.”

Nodding, she turned towards the all too familiar Academy building, pointing to the right side.

“If you take the right corridor you’ll find all the offices, he’s in the fourth one on the left. We can wait here for you.”

“Great, thanks,” he said, placing Yoshie back on the ground even though she complained loudly. “I’ll be right back.”

He quickly made his way inside, drying his palms on his pants. The closer to the correct office he came, the harder his heart thumped in his chest. Was this how Sasuke had felt when he was going to meet Itachi? Last time when he’d met his parents for the first time he hadn’t been given time to build up any anticipation, but now he could feel it creeping up his spine and settling somewhere in the hollow of his throat.

Slowing down as he neared it, he licked his dry lips and took a deep breath. Reaching the door, he squared his shoulders, wondering why he was losing his nerve all of a sudden. Maybe because somewhere in his heart, he’d already resigned himself to disappointment.

He knocked.

“Hello, how can I help you?”

The person opening the door was a young man possibly in his mid-twenties, with small eyes squinting just a bit as they took in Naruto’s appearance.

“Um, I was looking for Jiraiya?”

“Well, you found him! Come on inside, I’m guessing you must be Naruto?” When Naruto made no move to follow, he continued. “Asuna-chan told me about you, said that politics isn’t exactly your thing.”

The half-joke brought Naruto out of his stupor, and he glanced at the name plate just next to the door. _Matsuda Jiraiya_. Wow.

“Oh, yeah, not really,” he laughed awkwardly, pushing all thoughts of his former sensei to the side along with the sour taste in his mouth as he followed Matsuda into the small office.

 He sat down in the visitor’s chair, looking around the room. There were bookshelves covering most of the wall behind Matsuda, one desk facing the window and one angled to point at the door, with just enough space between it and the wall to fit in Naruto’s chair.

“Nice office,” he said, mostly to keep himself occupied.

“Thank you, Naruto.” Matsuda’s smile was easygoing enough, and Naruto wondered if he would have paid attention to his classes as a child. Probably not. “So, what can I help you with?”

“Well,” he started, contemplating Matsuda’s sandy colored hair and standard ninja outfit, though he didn’t look like he was out on missions much. “I suppose you heard I’m not from around here, and I was curious about the differences in political systems.”

He was rather proud over how that came out.

_Yeah, because I told you to say it._

As usual Kurama wouldn’t cut him any slack, but Naruto ignored him, also as usual.

“Really? The history aspect or the current system in practice?”

“Both, I guess.”

“Hmm.” Matsuda scratched his chin, where a bit of stubble was growing. “I could write you a booklist, I suppose, you should be able to find them all in the library.” Upon Naruto’s disheartened look he chuckled, leaning back in his chair with an amused smile. “I _could_ teach you, of course, the Hokage did inform us to treat you well, but I also heard that you’re not available for one-on-one sessions.”

Naruto blinked, confused. Was this something about fighting?

“Why don’t I write that list for you and send it with Asuna-chan tomorrow, and you can seek me out again when you’ve read through them if you have any questions.”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” he answered automatically, wincing on the inside because _reading_ and _books_ weren’t exactly his favorite words. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Matsuda said with another smile, standing up to shake his hand.

There was just something about the way he smiled that made Naruto feel a little uneasy. Still, he smiled in return before making his way back to the kids, thankfully finding all of them accounted for.

“So what did you want with Jiraiya-sensei?” Asuna asked as they started walking home, and this time he couldn’t suppress the slight wince at hearing the name.

“Just asked him to recommend some books about politics,” he said, shrugging being made difficult from the fact that Yoshie was now happily perched on his shoulders. “He should give you a list with them tomorrow.”

“Do you like to read?”

It was Takumi, surprising Naruto with his quiet voice. Even if he was shy it was hard to miss him, since he was almost as tall as Naruto’s shoulders despite only being ten.

“Sometimes, if it’s a special book or if it’s for training,” he answered, then quickly steered the subject away from his own reading. “What about you, Takumi?”

The rest of the trip was spent discussing everyone’s favorite book, and to his chagrin he found himself promising to read aloud from several of them. At least it would be easier than helping them study, he supposed.

It wasn’t until he was halfway through cleaning up the kitchen in preparation for dinner that he remembered Jiraiya had died just the day before he last arrived, with Sakura. His mission had been to retrieve the very scroll that Naruto used to defeat Menma with…

He scrubbed the kitchen table until it squeaked in protest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure what to say. I'm just gonna... go hide in my corner. But those of you who watched the movie already knew about Jiraiya, I'm sure.
> 
> Next chapter, Itachi cooks, Sakura uses her puppy eyes, and Charasuke narrowly escapes with his life intact. Or something like that.


	24. Get the hint part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, another chapter, this one courtesy of Éva who is currently visiting me. Which is very nice because she gives me puppy eyes so that I write a lot. I know you like it when the chapters are long but you don't understand. For every 100th page I switch to a new word document bc it's too much trouble otherwise, and as of 24 chapters I am now halfway through my third document with the ending nowhere near in sight. See my problem? Probably not. But at this rate, this story is going to be so long that I don't even want to think about it...
> 
> Yet, thinking about the future chapters is all I do. Haha.

Sasuke got dressed, then ventured down into the kitchen. Charasuke was already there, having entered through the front door after Itachi had gone out to see what the ruckus was all about. He didn’t miss the quick glance Charasuke sent his clothes, though there was apparently nothing to comment on. He’d picked identical green pants as the ones his counterpart seemed so fond of, finding them surprisingly comfortable, and a long-sleeved white t-shirt that felt soft enough to sleep in.

“Had a nice shower?” Itachi asked, cutting a tomato in neat pieces, wearing Mikoto’s frilly apron over his training clothes.

“Sure,” he replied, sitting down by the end of the table, next to Charasuke.

His alter ego was fiddling with a napkin, tearing it into tiny little parts that created a pile of fluffy white paper. He looked calm apart from his quickly moving fingers.

“I hope you don’t mind vegetable soup,” Itachi continued, moving from the tomatoes for a few seconds to stir what had to be the soup. “I picked up a couple of gyoza on my way home, too. The lady selling them told me the recipe is the same as Ryouga-sensei uses, so I had to try them.”

Charasuke snorted, rolling his eyes when Sasuke sent him a questioning look.

“Itachi and Shisui are obsessed with this cooking show, and Ryouga-sensei is the judge. He’s famous for using ninja techniques while cooking.”

“Really.” Sasuke wasn’t sure what to think of that, but couldn’t exactly feel bothered to care.

“Don’t look down on Ryouga-sensei,” Itachi berated them, pointing at Charasuke with his cutting knife. “I’ve been to one of his restaurants, and you wouldn’t talk like that if you had been, too.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Charasuke muttered, continuing with destroying his napkin piece by piece.

The rest of lunch –or maybe it was more like an early dinner– passed without incident, and Sasuke was surprised to find himself almost starving. He ate more than the other two did together, letting out a pleased sigh once he’d finished. He hoped that when Orochimaru said he’d get an increased appetite he didn’t mean it would be this bad, because then his grocery bill would skyrocket. It was already high enough with Naruto eating half of everything.

Itachi and Charasuke bickered a bit, and the issue of who would do the dishes might have escalated into something worse if Sasuke hadn’t quietly stepped in and taken the task upon himself. He was used to doing chores, after all, and it had felt weird to not help out until now. The oldest Uchiha left with a pat on Charasuke’s head and a mumbled excuse of needing to shower in time for something, and for a while the kitchen was silent save for the water sloshing around the dishes and the clinking noises of Charasuke drying and placing them back in their respective places.

When the doorbell rang, Charasuke didn’t even pretend he wasn’t happy about the distraction from cleaning up. Sasuke could hear murmured voices coming from the hallway, then light footsteps following his counterpart’s back to the kitchen.

“Hey, Sasuke!” Sakura said cheerfully, sliding into a seat and smiling at him. “It’s nice to see you’re feeling better. You should have seen the look on Naruto’s face when you collapsed, I wasn’t sure if he was going over to help you or to kill you!”

She giggled, her short hair pulled back from her face with a red diadem. Most likely she was off duty today, since her clothes looked casual too. He’d noticed that people were less meticulous about wearing forehead protectors here, and no one had commented on the fact that he and Naruto weren’t wearing any. Charasuke had taken his off as well, leaving it on the table.

“It was probably a bit of both,” he replied with a shrug, giving Charasuke a pointed look and holding the plate out for him to take.

“Ugh, I hate this,” Charasuke complained, but dutifully picked up the discarded towel again and set to work.

“If you think whining will make me help out, you’re wrong,” Sakura sang, looking rather pleased with herself as she sat with one elbow resting on the table and a clear view of their backsides. “Besides, I think I’ll just sit here and enjoy the view.”

“You’re not even attracted to me,” Charasuke argued, pouting a little as if that thought insulted him.

“Oh, I’m just relishing in knowing how incredibly jealous certain people would be if they knew.”

Charasuke’s face took on a pained look as he half turned towards her, pausing in his drying.

“You’re a terrible person,” he accused, then a grin broke through and he joined Sakura in laughter, as if they were sharing some sort of inside joke that Sasuke couldn’t begin to guess. “I guess my butt is just that pretty,” he added, wiggling it a bit as Sakura’s laughter increased in volume.

Sasuke was starting to feel uncomfortable. It was with a slight sense of relief that he noticed there was only one glass left to clean, and maybe then he could make a quick escape somewhere. But as he handed Charasuke the glass and emptied the sink of water, Sakura sealed his fate with the conversation that followed.

“Oh, Sasuke? You and Naruto are coming to the barbeque tonight, right?”

“Maybe.”

“You have to come! Everyone will be there, and we were all so worried about you when you were unconscious.”

Trying to come up with an excuse to not go, Sasuke could feel Charasuke’s drop in mood next to him.

“Is Menma coming? Because I doubt he cares.”

Sakura’s smile disappeared, and she looked at Charasuke with pity. Something must have happened between Charasuke and Menma, judging by what he’d said during their argument and the atmosphere now.

“I’m not sure,” Sakura began with an apologetic tone. “And we still haven’t talked things through…”

“I’m fine,” Charasuke gritted out, crossing his arms, shoulders stiffening in defense. “I told you I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Look, I know I said you should avoid him, but you don’t have to talk to him or anything. It’s stupid to not go when everyone is going, I mean they’ll notice something’s up.”

The warning tone only made Charasuke scoff, but Sasuke stood close enough to see that he was hurt more than he was angry. It was unpleasant to see that emotion on his face, because it gave off the same fragile vibe as before, and frankly it was starting to piss him off.

“Just what did Menma do, anyway?” he asked, Sakura biting her lip and waiting for Charasuke to reply.

“None of your business,” was the curt answer he got.

“If I’m going to train you, I’m making it my business.”

They glared at each other, and Sasuke couldn’t help but think that Charasuke _had_ to be younger than him. Or, maybe, it was just that the way he acted reminded him of his younger self.

“Sasuke likes Menma, but no one really knows about it or that they’ve been sleeping with each other.”

“Sakura…” Charasuke growled, but there was determination in her green eyes as she continued, Sasuke’s attention now focused on her.

“And then Menma started sleeping with Sai, too, and they had a fight and pretty much broke up.”

“We weren’t dating.”

Sasuke looked between them, Sakura still determined but with a hint of sadness in her eyes, Charasuke bristling with anger.

“Sounds like pointless drama to me,” he sighed, plucking at the bandage on his hand that was now moist from washing the dishes. “Either you were dating or you weren’t, and now you aren’t for sure. Just ignore him if he’s an ass.”

Two pairs of shocked eyes stared at him, speechless in their surprise.

“What?”

Charasuke seemed to struggle with himself, his mouth opening and closing as he searched for words.

“It’s not that simple,” he eventually said, sounding exasperated. “You don’t even know what happened.”

“I know you’re not happy about it,” he shrugged, wondering why it irked him so much to see himself this worked up over Naruto’s counterpart.

“And you think I can just shrug it off and forget about it?”

Sasuke bore his eyes into Charasuke’s, staring intently for a few moments before answering in a way that signaled he was done with the discussion.

“No, I’m saying you shouldn’t let someone who hurt you control your life. If you want to go to the barbeque, then go. If you don’t, then don’t. It shouldn’t matter if he’s there or not.”

They both gaped at him, but Sasuke pushed himself away from the counter he’d been leaning on and motioned with his head towards the garden.

“Now, go work out a bit and decide later.”

It took a few seconds, but soon enough Charasuke let out a strangled sound that could be anything, really, before he stomped past him and out onto the porch. Sakura stared after him for a while as Sasuke found a cloth to wipe down the counter, wondering if maybe he wasn’t so bad at dealing with kids after all.

“Are you always like that?” Sakura asked him, still facing the garden where Charasuke had now started a series of furious push-ups.

“Like what?”

She sighed, shaking her head slowly.

“Never mind. So what should we do while waiting for him?”

Sasuke was just about to tell her _they_ weren’t going to do anything, when there was a sudden glint of something evil in her eyes.

“Because if you leave him alone when he’s upset like this, I _will_ make your life a living hell.”

Narrowing his eyes, he clicked his tongue when she wouldn’t relent. How annoying. Though, it’s not like he really had anything better to do, and he supposed there was no point in having both a pissed off Sakura and Charasuke after him, especially now that he’d taken it upon himself to train the latter.

“Whatever,” he muttered, reluctantly sitting down and giving in to whatever torment she’d come up with.

“So,” she said, turning on her chair to face him and leaning her chin in one palm. “What was that about you going to train him?”

Ah, interrogation it was. Well, he could survive that, he supposed.

“Just that I’m going to train him,” he replied calmly, leaning back and glancing around the room, already bored with the conversation.

“Please don’t quit after just a few days.” She surprised him with how earnest she looked, her hand falling onto the table to draw patterns on it. “He hasn’t been given the help he should have for training, he’s not bad it’s just… somehow there was always someone more interesting, more capable and talented… and when they noticed he wasn’t like Itachi, people would just dismiss him as a failure.”

Sasuke frowned, not enjoying what he heard. Was that how he would have grown up, constantly in Itachi’s shadow, never taken seriously? There was a time when he’d faced the cold hard truth that simply being the last Uchiha didn’t make him _special_ , didn’t mean he would automatically be better than everyone else, even if that was the expectation placed upon his shoulders.

He’d reacted by working harder, seeking power outside the village, feeling suffocated within its walls… Glancing at Charasuke, who was now working through a series of combat moves, he wondered who those people that had dismissed him were.

“We were placed in the same team, so I’ve known him for a long time. For Menma to pick Sai instead of him is just…”

“Is just what?”

She threw her hands out, shaking her head.

“It’s like saying he’s easily replaceable, like Menma was only into his pretty face and couldn’t care less about him as a person. Sure, Sasuke said they weren’t dating, but…” She let out a frustrated sigh, running her hands through her hair as well she could with the diadem in the way. “If only he’d _tell_ me what was really going on!”

Sasuke waited for her to continue, observing her display of emotion passively.

“A couple weeks ago he said that this might be the first time he’s ever really felt _needed_ … I mean, there’s no way they could have been just fucking if he felt that much for him. They’ve been going on missions together so much the past year, hell Sasuke hasn’t even had actual dates with his fangirls in ages.”

Rubbing her face tiredly, she glanced outside at the ninja in question. The look on her face was so different from the one usually present on the Sakura he knew from his own dimension, nothing but the honest concern of a good friend in her eyes.

“It doesn’t make sense, but he refuses to talk about it, even before their fight. At first I thought they were keeping it secret because Menma didn’t want to announce his sexuality or something, his mom won’t stop nagging about how he and I should get together, but I don’t think that’s it.”

“But haven’t they been on the same team too?” Sasuke couldn’t help but ask, confused by Sakura’s explanation.

“Oh, no, we were on a team with Sai. Menma was always trained on his own, because of the kyuubi.”

Frowning at the news, Sasuke nodded at her to continue.

“I don’t know if it’s been the same for you, but Sasuke always had so many fangirls, and he’s always been teased about it. As if he’s only a pretty boy who’s not suited to be a ninja. At first he worked so hard to prove them wrong, but even so he never really got any attention or help. Of course, Kakashi is a pretty shitty teacher, too, but even when he tried to find someone else to train him… It would have been so much better if Itachi could just care a little.”

“Care a little about what?”

Itachi’s head popped into the doorway, followed by his body as he headed over to grab a glass of water for himself.

“Nothing,” Sakura replied, tightlipped and giving Sasuke a warning look to stay quiet.

“If you say so,” Itachi said slowly, giving her a suspicious look as he drank, then placed the glass in the sink. “Well, I’m leaving. Mother should be back soon, I guess. I think father said he’s working overtime today. See you tomorrow.”

With a wave he was out the door, Sakura staring after him for a long moment. Feeling conflicted, Sasuke did his best not to think too much about the whole deal. It wasn’t his problem if Charasuke was feeling neglected, and he still had a big family that cared about him so he really shouldn’t complain. On the other hand, there were memories from his early years demanding attention, reminding him of how he’d felt when trying to live up to his father’s expectations, always feeling like nothing was good enough, always wishing his brother would spend time with him. It almost felt as if Charasuke was stuck in Sasuke’s childhood, and somehow the fact that there was no massacre here meant nothing had changed when it came to their family dynamic.

“I think the final straw was when Tsunade-shishou started training me… I almost feel guilty for accepting. But I really like being a medic. It’s just…” She stared down at her clasped hands, a defeated aura surrounding her. “It’s so weird to think that when I was little I used to fangirl over him like everyone else, but when we teamed up, he always helped me out, and supported me when my mother passed away. If it weren’t for him I don’t know what I’d have done. I just wish there was something I could _do_!”

“Looks like there isn’t, though,” Sasuke told her, but stood up with a resolute expression. “Sometimes, being a good friend isn’t enough. But if he wants to become strong, I’ll see what I can do about it.”

He might have thought of Charasuke as someone annoying, someone he’d rather not deal with, but he wasn’t just going to sit there and let him get trampled over by everyone else if he could help it. He was Uchiha Sasuke, dammit, not some tragic maiden needing to be rescued by her prince.

Finding Charasuke kneeling on the ground he made his way over with determination, shoving him onto his back with a foot on a shoulder, crossing his arms and leaning over him.

“What’s with the pathetic face,” he asked, raising an eyebrow to accentuate his mockery. “You think you’ll get stronger by praying?”

“Shut up.”

“No, you shut up. Now get to your feet and show me what you’ve got.”

“Like hell I will, what’s your problem anyway!”

Sasuke moved so that he stood directly above Charasuke’s chest, glaring down at him. He didn’t like that he was so weak in this world, didn’t like that he was so weak when it came to _Menma_ , didn’t like that look of defeat in his own eyes, eyes he hadn’t seen for years.

“You,” he replied coldly. “You’re my problem unless you get up and fight me.”

“You’re just gonna win anyway,” Charasuke mumbled, averting his eyes stubbornly.

“So? Is losing worse than crying pathetically on the ground without even trying?”

There was a boiling anger in Charasuke’s eyes as they looked gazes, and Sasuke smirked down at him.

“Well? I don’t train toddlers, though I think even a baby would have more fighting spirit than you.”

“Shut. _Up_.”

“Make me.”

Charasuke lunged for him, but Sasuke easily stepped to the side. The next attack was better coordinated, but he still avoided it with ease.

“Come on, put some effort into it,” he taunted, ducking when Charasuke’s leg came swinging for his head.

“I said shut up!” Charasuke shouted, spinning into his next attack, making frustrated noises when no attack would reach its target. “And stop dodging all the time!”

“Do you tell that to all your enemies?”

“Fuck you!”

For a couple of minutes they simply jumped back and forth, Charasuke attacking and Sasuke avoiding, a few more taunts passing between them. When Charasuke started getting more and more sloppy, replacing aim with frustration, Sasuke had enough and tripped him. Taking a hold of both his arms he pushed Charasuke facedown into the grass, holding him in place with a leg.

“Let me go!” Charasuke complained, bucking underneath him but unable to get out of his hold.

“Why should I? You weren’t fighting me seriously.”

“I was!”

“Like hell you were. You gave up after ten seconds.”

“So what! I couldn’t even hit you anyway.”

Sasuke contemplated him for a few seconds, the way his back heaved with each breath, how his neck twisted so that one eye could meet his, lips turned downwards in an angry sneer.

“Of course you couldn’t,” he agreed, quickly changing Charasuke’s position so that they were face to face, pinning down his arms and locking eyes with him. “Even Itachi wouldn’t be able to if I didn’t want him to.”

Suspicion mingled with curiosity flickered through dark eyes, and slowly Charasuke relaxed and stopped struggling against his hold.

“Itachi is one of the strongest ninja in the village,” Charasuke hesitantly said, as if wondering if he really wanted to hear Sasuke’s reply.

Lips twitching, Sasuke kept his hands firm on Charasuke’s arms.

“You’re the one who said I could beat Itachi in ten seconds if I wanted to.”

“I exaggerated.”

“You didn’t.”

Charasuke swallowed thickly, wetting his lips in a nervous gesture.

“Are you stronger than your own Itachi, too?” he asked, eyelashes fluttering as he waited for the answer.

“Probably.”

While he hadn’t been at the time of their fight, his recent powers and the hard training he’d been doing with Naruto the past year would most likely be enough to beat him.

“Can you make me strong like you?”

There was something so innocent about the request, the wide eyes and eager tone, that Sasuke almost felt sick.

“It’s impossible.”

When Charasuke turned his head to the side with a small, trembling sigh, Sasuke moved closer and forced him to make eye contact again.

“You see these eyes?” he said quietly, so that Sakura who was watching them wouldn’t overhear. “These aren’t my eyes. I stole them from my brother’s corpse, and after transplanting them I destroyed my own so that no one else could use them.”

It took a second or two for the words to sink in, but when Charasuke tugged at his arm he let it go, watching calmly as his fingers almost shook when they reached for his face.

“These are… Itachi’s?”

Sasuke held still as Charasuke’s warm fingertips brushed over his brow, pushing his bangs to the side. He searched Sasuke’s eyes, or rather, Itachi’s; lips parting to suck in a breath when he apparently found what he was looking for.

They were so close by now that Sasuke could feel the warmth of his breath as he exhaled slowly, as if frightened the air leaving his lungs would push Sasuke further away.

“What else did you do?” he whispered, fingers entwined with his hair now, thumb placed by the corner of his eye.

“What happened with Menma?” Sasuke countered, and was met with a frown.

“That’s personal.” Then he seemed to realize what he’d said, and released Sasuke’s face with a sigh. “Fine, I get it. Your life sucks too. I guess I’m okay with sharing Itachi, he’s not around much, but…”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, sitting up and getting off Charasuke. He could feel the other watch him in concern and possibly slight awe, but ignored it in favor of getting up and brushing off his clothes.

“You’re going to the barbeque,” he stated. “If I have to suffer through it, then so do you.”

xxx

Done with work, Naruto took a quick shower and deemed his jumpsuit way too dirty to wear for a barbeque. He would have worn it anyway but he knew Sasuke would complain, so he resigned himself to ask Iruka if maybe he had a sweater or something without the orphanage’s logo on it. The result was such a colorless combination that he had to stare at it in horror for several minutes before promising himself that tomorrow was definitely laundry day.

He looked as depressing as he felt, and figured that maybe the walk to Sasuke’s house would give him time to cheer up a bit. Halfway through the village center the call of a familiar voice caused him to pause, veering off into a side street to greet Minato and Kushina.

“Naruto! I almost didn’t recognize you in those clothes,” Minato said, smiling while Kushina grabbed him and all but crushed him in a tight hug.

“It’s so good to see you out of that hospital,” she told him, holding him at arm’s length and scrutinizing his appearance. “And Sasuke is still on his way to full recovery?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he assured her, rubbing the back of his neck. “Thanks for sending Menma over with the ramen.”

“Oh, I just wanted to make sure you actually ate something! It would be bad if you ended up in bed because of malnourishment, you know!”

“Ah yeah, I guess.”

She smiled at him, her pretty red hair almost glowing in the evening sun. Sometimes he still wondered if the color would have suited him.

“Well, we should get going I suppose, but you’ll come over for dinner again soon, right?”

“Of course!” He grinned at Minato, accepting the friendly squeeze to his shoulder.

Kushina gave him another hug and a wink, leaning in close to his ear to whisper.

“Oh and I heard about you and Sasuke, sorry I didn’t realize it before! I guess I at least have a son he could marry, ne?”

 Spluttering and red-faced, Naruto watched them walk down the street arm in arm, Minato asking something that Kushina laughed heartily at. Usually seeing something like that would have caused his heart to clench, wishing for the umpteenth time that his parents could have survived and lived happily together, but right now he was too preoccupied with embarrassment.

What the _hell_ was up with everyone and assuming he and Sasuke were dating?!

_You mean you aren’t? And all this time I thought-_

“I am _not_ listening to you, you damn fox!” he screeched, flailing his arms and ignoring the weird looks he got.

Maybe one day that jerk would find something better to do with his time than eavesdrop on all of Naruto’s conversations.

_You think I enjoy watching a brat like you stumble through life?_

“Oh, shut up,” Naruto muttered, though of course the fox wouldn’t listen and instead carried on their banter all the way to Sasuke’s front door, where he contemplated the possibilities of gagging a chakra beast living inside your stomach while waiting for it to open.

“Naruto?”

For some reason, Sakura’s voice sounded so suspicious of him, when really it should be the other way around because why was she of all people opening the door?

“Uh yeah, can I come in or…?”

“Yeah sure, I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t Menma.”

She stepped aside to let him in, not explaining what she meant by that, so Naruto shrugged it off. He had more important matters to take care of, after all.

Finding Sasuke was simple. It was much less simple to convince him to talk in private.

“Seriously Sasuke, just come with me.”

“Why.”

“Because!”

“You’ll just hit me again.”

Sakura gasped, giving him a nasty glare before looking at Sasuke worriedly.

“Naruto gave you that bruise I healed for you?”

“Does that mean he actually is stronger…” Charasuke mused, perched on the counter and munching on a biscuit of some sort.

“I’m trying to talk here!”

“You’re too damn loud, moron. Besides, can’t you see we’re in the middle of something?”

Of course he could see that Sasuke and Sakura were in the middle of rolling dice, apparently playing for the small pebbles that looked too decorative to be picked straight off the ground. Did he care? Not really.

“Why do you have to be so difficult,” he groaned, grabbing Sasuke by the neck of his shirt and dragging him off the chair, pleased that he decided to follow even though he wrenched Naruto’s hand off as soon as he was up. “Since when are you friendly with those two anyway?” he asked once they’d reached Charasuke’s room and closed the door.

Sasuke shrugged, sitting down on the bed. He looked tired, but otherwise fine, through as soon as Naruto remembered his suspicions from earlier in the day he could feel his anger flare up again.

“You took something this morning.”

Sasuke’s gaze sharpened, evaluating how certain he was of that fact.

“Is that what you wanted to talk about? Because I don’t have anything to say, really.”

“For fuck’s sake, Sasuke! If it was that bad you could have just let _me_ talk to them! There was no need for you to-“

“Just drop it, Naruto,” Sasuke sighed, leaning back on his palms. “It’s a completely harmless drug and I’ve seen it used before, I knew it would be fine. Besides, do you really think they’d let you tell them what happened when you seem so intent on keeping everything about me a secret?”

Naruto stared at him for a few seconds, pushing down his anger as best he could. How was he supposed to explain that he didn’t care if it was the most harmless drug in the world, the fact remained that Sasuke had felt bad enough to feel forced into taking one.

“I just…” he started, hands hanging limp at his sides but somehow he ached to feel Sasuke’s warmth underneath his palms, to make sure he was there for real, alive, and giving him that heart achingly familiar raised eyebrow.

“Now,” Sasuke continued calmly as if they were talking about the weather, “are you going to tell me why you’ve been acting all weird the past days?”

Naruto blinked at him, momentarily forgetting what he was talking about. Then he remembered punching the mirror and acting all worried, and contradicting himself and really, he wasn’t sure himself because everything felt like it was such a mess and happening too fast and he was too slow to catch up to it.

“No,” he blurted out, then realized that this meant he actually acknowledged he’d been acting weird, but on the other hand it wasn’t like Sasuke couldn’t tell already. “I mean I don’t know. There’s just been a lot happening, okay?”

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down again, walking over to sit next to Sasuke on the bed. For a minute or so they simply sat there in silence, staring at the opposite wall where a large painting of Konoha hung. He wondered why someone like Charasuke would have a painting of Konoha, but it was a rather nice one so maybe there was a reason.

“You’re upset,” Sasuke stated.

“Yes.”

“Well nothing new there.”

He slapped Sasuke’s arm. Such a bastard. Then he sighed, burying his face in his hands and trying not to think of anything, because he didn’t know what to think of anyway. Just being next to Sasuke was making him feel better, and he focused on that feeling instead of all the thoughts swirling around in his head.

“I was thinking I’ll study the politics here,” he started, because that was a rather simple subject.

“…I can see why you feel upset.”

“Bastard!” He pushed at his friend, scowling but unable to keep it up for long because Sasuke pushed back hard enough that he fell onto the bed. “You suck,” he pouted, and when Sasuke scoffed he grabbed his shirt and pulled him down next to him.

“You’re the one looking like you’re headed to a funeral.”

“Aww, don’t tell me you miss my jumpsuit,” he teased, grinning when Sasuke scoffed again. “You do.”

“I am not talking about that thing.”

“Don’t worry,” he told Sasuke in mock reassurance, patting his arm. “I’ll wear it tomorrow again.”

“Of course you will.”

Even though Sasuke’s tone was condescending, Naruto instantly felt better about everything. It was strange that no matter what, Sasuke just had this super power that always made him feel either so much better about life, or like he wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out again. The past year had been mostly positive though, and maybe that was why he was so scared of Sasuke leaving again, because now that he knew how good he could feel he didn’t want that overwhelming loneliness wrapping around him like before.

“I could fall asleep like this,” he mumbled, squirming around a bit on the bed to feel more comfortable and somehow ending up with his nose pressed against Sasuke’s arm.

“Don’t,” Sasuke warned him. “We’re going to that barbeque, remember?”

“But I’m comfortable,” he whined, deciding to forget about all the crap for now, content to simply feel Sasuke’s heat against his face.

“Oh really,” Sasuke sighed, turning onto his side and propping himself up on an elbow, which was rather impressive considering his legs were still off the bed.

At the loss of heat source, Naruto’s instinct told him that smothering himself against Sasuke’s chest was the only logical solution. It wasn’t far, after all, it was just that he hadn’t counted on moving so fast that he all but hit Sasuke with his forehead, the slight disturbance in balance causing Sasuke’s free hand to grip his bicep.

He froze, for some reason feeling his face heat up when Sasuke’s grip loosened but didn’t disappear. The position was slightly awkward, especially for his legs, and his hands would probably be more comfortable if he could place them too against Sasuke’s chest but he didn’t dare move.

“Why did you decide to suddenly start studying, anyway?” Sasuke asked, apparently acting like this was completely normal for them.

“Dunno,” he mumbled, feeling his muscles slowly unclench.

“You suck at lying.”

“Okay fine, I thought that if I knew how they’re doing things here, it might be easier to change things for the better when I’m Hokage.”

Sasuke was quiet at first, the hand on Naruto’s arm holding the fabric tighter for a second before smoothing it out with gentle movements that almost had him shivering.

“And if I use my clones then I can read loads of stuff in no time,” he added, trying not to feel distracted by how Sasuke’s chest pushed against his face every time he breathed in.

Swallowing thickly, he tried to smother the traitorous voice in the back of his head that told him to reach out and pull Sasuke closer, lean his ear against his chest to listen to his heartbeat accompanied by that special one that was theirs alone and no one else could hear. Sasuke’s hand stilled against his arm, warm and steady as if holding him grounded to the earth, when all Naruto’s limbs seemed to want was to tremble uselessly.

“And,” he tried, swallowing again.

“I know you can do it,” Sasuke quietly sighed, tightening his hold as if he could tell Naruto needed it.

Drawing in a shaky breath, Naruto nodded. He closed his eyes, focusing on breathing, in and out, their connection beating loud in his ears and drowning out his thoughts. Sasuke shifted, letting his head rest on his arm instead of propping it up, so that they were face to face.

“You worry too much.”

Naruto didn’t reply, instead feeling his breath hitch when Sasuke’s hand left his arm to trail light fingertips over his temple, tucking some of the longer bangs behind his ear.

“You don’t need to worry so much about me,” Sasuke whispered, a warm puff of air hitting Naruto’s mouth. “Worry more about yourself instead.”

He couldn’t help but smile at that, because it wasn’t really about what he needed, he just _did_. He couldn’t help himself. Sasuke was always on his mind, and it certainly didn’t help when he acted like he was doing right now. It hurt, and Naruto couldn’t understand why. It just felt like his body was slowly destroying itself from the inside out and the pieces that fell off were drawn to Sasuke like a magnet, finding relief in his presence.

Curling his fingers around Sasuke’s thin shirt he let out a heavy sigh, wondering if these conflicting emotions would ever make sense to him.

“Let’s go back,” Sasuke decided, sitting up which meant Naruto had to let go of him.

“Fine,” he muttered, turning his head so that his friend wouldn’t see the pout he sported.

It was rare that Sasuke allowed this much body contact, but somehow things had been a little different lately. Not that he should be thinking about it. Especially not now that he’d realized he might have a slight problem with looking at Sasuke without looking _too much_. Not to mention how good he smelled, or how good Naruto _felt_ whenever Sasuke touched him…

Yeah, those were not good thoughts.

Too late he’d realized that Sasuke had stood up and stretched, and that he was running his gaze appreciatively over the muscles clearly outlined underneath the shirt. Shaking his head he stood up as well, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. One second his chest was constricting painfully because Sasuke touched him, the next he couldn’t stop staring at him rolling his shoulders. He was going crazy, wasn’t he?

“Come on,” Sasuke said, starting to walk out of the room. “I was just about to win that round.”

It took Naruto a second to remember he’d been playing some sort of game with Sakura, and again he wondered just how they’d gotten so friendly.

“So how _did_ you guys suddenly become friends?” he asked, sidling up to Sasuke by the top of the stairs.

“I wouldn’t say we’re friends,” Sasuke shrugged, taking two steps at a time. “But I promised to teach Charasuke some of my techniques.”

“What, really?”

“I didn’t really have a choice.”

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, narrowing his eyes at the back of Sasuke’s head.

“Did he do something to you?”

Sasuke glanced back at him, rolling his eyes.

“He’s not that bad, really. Besides, I don’t need you to protect my chastity.”

“So he _did_ do something!” Ignoring Sasuke’s huff he ran the three steps down to catch up, grabbing Sasuke’s arm and shaking him a little. “I told you he’s a pervert!”

“He’s just a bit touchy-feely.”

“He wanted to _have sex with me_!”

“Well maybe you should have said yes instead of being so squeamish about it. You’re the one who spent three years with someone called ero-sennin.”

“Wha- I- You- Gah!”

Naruto threw his hands in the air, fed up with Sasuke’s sudden I’m-totally-fine-with-anything attitude. _Whatever_. If Sasuke was totally cool about all of this then Naruto could be, too. Still, he squinted at Sasuke in suspicion, wondering if maybe he was having some late episode of those random emotions.

“I don’t get it,” Sasuke mused, hands in his pockets in that cool stance that always pissed Naruto off. “I was off training with a creep for years while you were travelling around and visiting brothels and reading dirty magazines, and _you’re_ the one who’s got a problem with sexual stuff?”

“I don’t have a problem!” Sasuke’s raised eyebrow only fueled his frustration. “I just don’t like it when everyone assumes I’m gay and keeps hitting on me! Even my parents think we’re dating!”

“So tell them we’re not, moron,” Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly, continuing down the stairs.

Naruto stayed in his spot, not sure why he didn’t like how easy Sasuke took this. Did it really not bother him?

But of course not. Sasuke was only bothered by things he actually cared about, like people badmouthing Itachi. And if Charasuke had done something that made Sasuke angry, he would have the wounds to show it. Pursing his lips he made his way down the rest of the stairs, sliding his feet along the wood before letting them slip down to the step below. He hated being this confused about things. It didn’t make sense that he would be so upset about everything and then be upset about the reverse, too.

But he didn’t _want_ people to think that he and Sasuke were dating, that was just… weird. Right? Like the only time he could think of when it would be okay would be if maybe Sasuke was harassed by fangirls at home and there was no other way to make them stop. Then it would make sense.

Pausing in his thoughts it felt like he was waiting for something, only to realize that Kurama had yet to say a word on the subject. Maybe he had answered his silent prayers and decided to shut up for once.

“Um, Sasuke told me to tell you that I really didn’t do anything bad, okay?”

It was Charasuke, who now stood in the hallway below him, staring up at him with an annoyed expression.

“Like I’ll believe you,” Naruto snorted, crossing his arms.

“I was just thanking him for accepting to train me,” Charasuke mumbled, glaring stubbornly to the side.

Before Naruto could stop himself, a single thought fluttered through his already messed up brain. _Cute_.

“Sure you did,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Just tell me what you did and I’ll decide if I should beat you up or not for it.”

“And here I thought you were a nice guy,” Charasuke complained, but then a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. “I won’t tell you.”

Naruto walked down to join him, keeping a safe distance once he reached the lower floor.

“Why?”

“You’ll get jealous.”

“Like hell I’ll get jealous!”

Charasuke held up a finger, clicking his tongue at him.

“It’s not safe. Besides, he already threw me out a window for it.”

“He what?!”

“It was an open window.”

Since they had almost the same voice, it took Naruto a second to realize that it was Sasuke who said the last part, and not Charasuke.

“And just what do you think you’re doing?” Sasuke continued, lounging in the doorway to the kitchen but with his eyes pinning Charasuke down.

“You’re no fun,” Charasuke sighed, combing a hand through his hair and weighing on his heels, glancing between them. “If you wanted to sneak off and make out you could just say so, you know? Be a little considerate of us singles.”

“We weren’t making out!” Naruto yelled, but none of the dark-haired ninja seemed to take any notice of him.

“You could have invited me. Or stayed in the kitchen.”

“Don’t,” Sasuke told him, rubbing his cheek, tired of their banter.

“I’m just saying,” Charasuke insisted, crossing his arms, but there was an amused pull at his lips that told Naruto he was messing with them. “I mean we even warmed up and everything.”

Something simply snapped inside Naruto’s brain, and he stalked over to where Sasuke stood and grabbed him from behind, backing them both until they were at a _much_ safer distance.

“Stay back,” he ordered, peeking at Charasuke from behind Sasuke’s shoulder. “You’re a bad influence!”

“Idiot,” Sasuke snapped, fighting against the tight hold he had on him, while Charasuke seemed torn between laughing and scowling at him.

The combined result was rather comical.

“What are you guys doing?” Sakura asked, still sitting on her chair since Naruto had backed into the kitchen.

“Naruto is just being silly,” Sasuke explained, though Naruto wasn’t pleased with his choice of words at all.

“I’m not being silly! He was perving all over you and you don’t even care? Clearly you’re still cracked in the head from Kaguya!”

“From what?” Charasuke asked, giving them confused looks as he walked into the room as well.

“Don’t come closer!” Naruto warned, maintaining his death grip around Sasuke’s chest and arms.

To his surprise, Sakura started laughing, to the point where tears gathered in her eyes.

“Oh my god,” she forced out, wiping furiously at her eyes. “You should have _seen_ them when they were sparring then! It was like taken from some romantic movie! The only thing lacking was the rain!”

Needless to say, she didn’t help the situation. However, before Naruto could react to her words, Sasuke broke free and shoved a hand onto his mouth, producing some chakra wire to bind his hands and feet. Then he promptly shoved Naruto onto a chair, placing himself behind him so that he could keep his hand secured over his mouth.

“Alright,” he said, voice crisp and businesslike. “Let’s make some things clear. Naruto, stop freaking out over everything, I can take care of myself. Charasuke, if you want me to train you then you’ll behave like you’ve earned it. Sakura…” he trailed off, apparently not having any specific orders for her.

“Yes?” she asked, still giggling a little into her palms.

“Just keep him out of trouble,” he sighed, tilting his head towards Charasuke.

“Hey! I’m not some little kid you’re in charge of!” Charasuke disagreed, and Naruto nodded vigorously.

Straining to see Sasuke’s face, Naruto winced at the displeased look on it. It was the same look he’d given Naruto after he’d been asked to do a harem jutsu combo, before proceeding to give him the cold shoulder for three days.

“Then act like it,” was Sasuke’s snappish reply.

When the pale hand left his mouth, Naruto slumped in his seat, annoyed that Sasuke wasn’t making any moves to remove the wire. Sure he could do it himself, but only a bastard would leave it like this. As Sasuke busied himself with something behind him, he returned Charasuke’s sullen glare, refusing to back down.

 _‘Watch it’_ he mouthed at him, pleased when he got a rise out of the other. He didn’t however expect for Charasuke to come over, smirking evilly at his bound state as he sat on top of the table just next to him. He could feel cold sweat beginning to form on his brow as Charasuke’s eyes raked over him, his feet dangling innocently.

“Sasukeeee,” he whined, refusing to admit that it turned into a whimper by the end when Charasuke leaned in closer, trying to scoot the chair away from him.

“Can’t hear you.”

“What?! You _bastard_ , I could die and you don’t even care!”

“How can you be stronger than Sasuke if you can’t even escape some chakra wire?”

Now _that_ certainly got Naruto moving. He entered kyuubi mode, snapping the wires off with the flaming chakra, sticking his tongue out at Charasuke whose wide-eyed expression made him feel not a little bit smug.

“How about that, huh?” he bragged, feeling better until Sasuke slapped the back of his head so that he face planted onto Charasuke’s thigh. “What the hell?!”

“Loser.”

“Asshole!”

“Deadlast scaredy-cat.”

“I’m gonna kick your ass so hard they’ll have to feed you the meat through a tube!”

Ignoring the heated arguing, Charasuke and Sakura shared a look.

“Should we stop them before they break something?” Charasuke asked, his voice hushed even though the other probably two wouldn’t listen unless he shouted.

“No, I think they’re flirting,” Sakura whispered back, keeping an eye on the two bickering ninja, one of them still engulfed in bright yellow flames and waving his hands around animatedly.

“Really?” Charasuke’s tone clearly voiced his doubt, admiring Sasuke’s calm as he poured tea from the pot they’d prepared earlier with Naruto shouting in his face.

“Trust me,” she reassured him, tapping a finger against her nose. “Woman’s intuition.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, not sure what to think about this, but quite a few things are gonna fall into place in the following chapters. And then I can finally write the whole Menma-Charasuke drama bc I feel like some of you have gotten it all wrong and Charasuke keeps begging me for more attention. Oh well. 
> 
> Poor Charasuke didn't get to kiss Naruto though... it's okay bby, you'll kiss him in my dreams later. *cough*
> 
> Sasuke is getting good babysitting practice though. I'm sure it'll come in handy some day.


	25. Get the hint part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doesn't it just suck when you have to wait for ages for a new chapter even though the author said they'd update soon...
> 
> ahem

Sasuke thought he had established long ago that he was not a party person, nor a people person. He was much more the type to just hang out with his family, except he didn’t have one. The closest thing he had to, well, _anything,_ was Naruto, and Naruto was currently busy chatting away with Sakura and Charasuke about something unimportant he couldn’t care less about.

The restaurant wasn’t bad though, lit with cozy low-hanging lamps and furnished with dark polished wood and forest green. At least he had the small comfort of them sitting four and four at small tables, with no Menma in sight. He really wasn’t feeling up for drama.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t _believe_ how huge that boulder was! We had to-“

He tuned Naruto out again, poking at the meat he’d placed on the small built-in grill in the middle of the table. Orochimaru had definitely been correct in his prediction of his increased appetite because he’d already finished his own share and had now started on Naruto’s, the other ninja too busy telling his story to notice. Usually it would be the other way around, but Sasuke was just happy he could keep himself occupied. He’d already had to suffer through everyone telling him how glad they were that he was alright now, he didn’t want to appear bored and risk someone coming over again.

Dipping the strip of meat in the sauce –really, they had to eat there again because the sauce was amazing– he minded his own business, chewing languidly and licking his lips to savor the taste.

“I have to go to the bathroom!” Naruto suddenly exclaimed, startling the three other occupants of the table with his hasty departure.

“What the hell? Naruto, you were in the middle of the- oh whatever,” Sakura sighed the last part, returning to the shrimp on her plate. “I wonder why he was in such a hurry suddenly.”

Charasuke shrugged, picking up a piece of bell pepper that Sasuke had been carefully preparing to _just_ the right amount of burnt. Grabbing Charasuke’s chopsticks with his own, Sasuke glared at him in warning, but only received a smirk in return.

“Should I remind you who’s paying?” Charasuke drawled, mouth widening in a grin when Sasuke gritted his teeth and let go.

Charasuke might not be a terrible person, but that didn’t mean Sasuke enjoyed spending hours together. _Socializing_. Ugh.

“Aww, don’t look so put out, Sasuke! You’ll get to be alone with Naruto soon enough,” Sakura cooed, giggling when he sent her a dirty look. “He certainly knows a lot of stories, doesn’t he?”

Sasuke made a non-committal grunt, slouching in his chair when it seemed as if both of the others had decided to torture him now that Naruto wasn’t there to entertain them.

“Bet he knows how to get that scowl off your face, too,” Charasuke grinned, waggling his eyebrows at Sasuke in a way that didn’t make much sense.

“Yeah, by not being annoying,” he replied, snatching another piece of raw meat from Naruto’s plate that was strategically positioned between them and placing it on the grill, hoping the other two would get the hint. “Doesn’t happen very often though,” he added, ignoring how the others shared a look of disbelief.

“Say, Sasuke…” Sakura started, leaning forwards on her elbows and trying to make eye contact. “How long have the two of you been together?”

“What do you mean?” he asked casually, eyes trained on the too slowly cooking piece of meat.

“She wants the juicy details, stupid,” Charasuke informed him, the words slightly distorted as he had put another vegetable into his mouth that was too hot to chew yet.

Sasuke couldn’t believe he’d just been called _stupid_ by his weak alter ego who was talking with food in his mouth. Only Naruto could do that and not piss him off.

“What details,” he huffed irritably, knitting his eyebrows together and poking at his meat.

He’d prepare more pieces, but Naruto really hadn’t eaten enough yet so maybe he should slow down a bit. Actually, why hadn’t Naruto come back yet? Maybe there was a line to the restrooms.

“I told you we should ask Naruto instead,” Charasuke mumbled towards Sakura, though she ignored him (as did Sasuke).

“It’s just that you two seem like a married couple, I’m curious!” Sakura told him, radiating pure eagerness. “You two must have such an amazing backstory together!”

Sasuke almost choked on air.

Once he was done almost choking, he realized the other two were watching him expectantly, looking so innocent that he contemplated grabbing Naruto and leaving before he accidentally told them something. Surely Charasuke wasn’t expecting a sunshine story after the whole thing with telling him about Itachi’s eyes?

“Why the hell do you want to know stuff like that?”

Not that there was anything to tell that wasn’t incredibly personal and not for anyone else to know.

“I just think you two are so cute together… I want to know!” Sakura was insistent, leaning over half the table now with puppy eyes while Charasuke rolled his.

“Aren’t you being a little intrusive, Sakura?” Charasuke pointed out, and Sasuke fervently agreed. “At least admit you’re a total slut for relationship gossip.”

Sakura slapped Charasuke’s arm with a pout, and things really weren’t going the way Sasuke wanted them to. He needed to quickly think of something to distract them from the subject with, but he had a sneaking suspicion that this topic wouldn’t get dropped that easily.

“Don’t listen to him,” Sakura complained, “He’s as curious as I am.”

“Well, there’s nothing to tell,” Sasuke tried, relieved that his meat was done so he could finally have a moment of peace while chewing.

“Oh, don’t be like that!” Sakura kicked his foot underneath the table, beaming at him. “I bet it’s super romantic!”

“What is?”

“Your relationship! How you got together! How much you love each other and your plans to get married and-“

Thankfully Charasuke stopped her with a hand over her mouth, shaking his head slowly in amusement.

“Sakura, you really need a girlfriend,” he said, giving her a toothy grin when she glared at him. “I really doubt they came here to elope, you know.”

Sakura let out a huff, slumped in reluctant defeat.

“Can’t I ever have some fun?” she whined, grabbing her glass of water and drinking while maintaining her pout. “Why does everything have to be so serious and sad all the time, I just want to hear about something cute for once today!”

Sasuke wondered if that glass was really filled with water, or with something else entirely.

“Are you on your period?” Charasuke asked with slight pity, and Sakura groaned and fell face down onto the table, burying her head in her arms.

“Yes!” she cried out, adding another groan. “Everything sucks, what the hell did Naruto run off for, he was such a good distraction!”

Sasuke was low key panicking, staring at Sakura and wondering what just happened. She’d been acting normal up until now, hadn’t she? Charasuke was patting her back and making gestures at Sasuke, apparently trying to make him say something. He gestured back, asking just what he was supposed to say because he really didn’t know shit about comforting girls on their period.

 _‘About you and Naruto_ ’ Charasuke mouthed silently, and Sasuke could just feel his whole body stiffen in discomfort.

There was nothing to tell though! No relationship, no sunshine story, no nothing. He’d have to fake it… Damn, this wasn’t part of ninja training! It was easier to kill people than to comfort them, though he tended to avoid both.

But fine, everyone already thought they’d been dating happily for years, and it’s not like it was a horrible accusation. It was nicer than being seen as a traitor, for sure. If it made people ask less questions he’d fake a damn marriage license personally.

…though Naruto would most likely freak out about that, too.

Charasuke’s gesturing had become more urgent, and Sasuke awkwardly cleared his throat, wishing Naruto would show up and put him out of his misery.

“A year,” he said, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

Sakura’s head snapped up, fingers digging into the table surface.

“Who confessed?” she asked, breathless, and Sasuke was going to bash Charasuke’s face in later for looking so amused.

He desperately tried to come up with a plausible scenario, but the only thing that came to mind was when he’d told Naruto right after defeating Kaguya that he was going with him to Konoha.

“I guess I did,” he sighed, figuring he’d passed the point of no return already.

A high-pitched squeal erupted from the previously so depressed girl, and Sasuke was starting to regret several of his life choices.

“I can’t believe it!” Sakura gushed, though she looked like she did. “Where did you do it? What did you say?!”

Sasuke gave up his dignity and sent a pleading look in Charasuke’s direction, but his alter ego was busy examining his sleeves. It was starting to dawn on him that he’d walked into a trap and swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Fine. _Fine_. If they wanted a story, he’d give them something good. Something that would distract them from the truth. It was basic tactics, anyway. If the enemy is looking for information, give them what they expect to find and they won’t stick around looking for the truth.

“We haven’t told anyone,” he started, “Konoha is not so accepting in our dimension…”

Sakura’s eyes widened and she straightened up, enraptured by the story already. _Got you_ , he thought.

“That’s terrible,” she gasped.

“It is what it is,” he shrugged, starting to relax now as he mapped out the lie in his head. “A year ago there was a huge war, and lots of people died. Naruto and I weren’t far off, either.”

Even Charasuke looked captured now, and Sasuke almost felt bad for lying to them. It was too late now, though, and so he carefully arranged his features to look resolute, as if the memory was painful. He couldn’t say it was, really.

“We got separated, stuck on different sides of the battlefield. If he’d died I wouldn’t have known until it was over.”

Sakura was getting teary-eyed, holding a hand in front of her mouth as he continued telling the almost but not quite truth.

“I had a sword run through me, almost hitting my heart.” He pointed to the place on his chest where there was still a scar, frowning as he remembered how he’d struggled to stay alive. That part hadn’t been fun, that was for sure. “Luckily I was saved by a medic nin and found Naruto again, and together we fought the ones responsible for starting the war.”

“Who was it?” Charasuke asked, but Sasuke shook his head.

“Don’t interrupt me.”

“Fine, sorry.”

“Everyone else was either trapped in a genjutsu or useless, so it was just the two of us left. I’d had a lot of time to think while I was dying, and…”

He hesitated. He wasn’t about to go into details with Hagoromo and everything, but he needed to phrase his lie in a sufficiently romantic but non-sappy way to make it seem plausible. No one would look at him and believe he was capable of romance, right?

“I guess when we’d finally defeated them and saved everyone, I just… looked at him and…” he grasped for words, forgetting about Charasuke and Sakura for a while. He really had been looking at Naruto then, all his emotions jumbled together in a terribly frightening mix of relief, sadness, anger, but mostly… _affection_.

“It’s one of those feelings you can’t explain with words, isn’t it?” Sakura whispered, eyes glittering in a way that definitely would have sent him running if it was the Sakura from his own dimension.

“Sure,” he agreed, glad he wouldn’t need to clarify his emotions at the time. “I just knew what I had to do.”

“That is so romantic,” Sakura sighed wistfully, chin resting on her palm as she stared into nothingness. “Feelings blossoming in the midst of battle… It’s like in those famous movies!”

Sasuke coughed, deeming the story sufficiently told and adding some more of Naruto’s meat to the grill. He just hoped she wouldn’t ask anything else because really, he was starting to feel a headache forming from all this nonsense.

He glanced up from the meat just in time to see Naruto hurrying their way, teeth gnawing on his lower lip and looking decidedly stressed.

“I’m not feeling well come on Sasuke we’re leaving!” he rambled, taking hold of his arm and all but dragging him away.

“What?! Where are you going?!” Sakura shouted after them, but Naruto waved her off with a grimace.

“Stomachache!” he shouted back, and a few seconds later they were outside and heading down the street.

“Dobe, what the fuck? I was eating.”

“What, I thought you _didn’t_ _want_ to be there? This is me doing you a favor.”

“Why do I get the feeling it’s for a selfish reason,” Sasuke muttered, allowing himself to get dragged but resisting enough to show Naruto he wasn’t happy about it.

“It’s not.”

“No?”

“No.”

Fine, whatever. As with everything else, Naruto would tell him eventually. Maybe he should be thankful that Naruto hadn’t stuck around to hear Sakura’s comments on his confession…

Yeah, that one was going to come back and bite him in the ass.

xxx

Itachi walked with care over the scattered debris, making his way over to the small canyon separating that part of the forest from the training caves on the other side. The destruction caused by Naruto and Menma’s fight hadn’t been properly cleaned up, seeing as Tsunade had decided to shut off the area rather than attempt to reconstruct it. There wasn’t much left of the inner constructions, anyway, which was a shame in Itachi’s opinion because it had been an impressive place.

Though the good part with it being abandoned was that no one came sneaking around to watch him train his new, and also first, student.

The bridge crossing over the canyon was gone by now, though moving over distances was hardly a problem for someone as skilled as him. The drop down to the rocky ground wasn’t far either, but in even worse condition and too much of an effort to walk over.

With random intervals on the cliff wall were entranceways and holes made from explosions or heavy tailed beasts passing through, making the place a rather sorry sight. There were parts on the inside that were closed off or completely destroyed, though Itachi took confident steps towards the main hall where he could feel the chakra signature of his awaiting student.

He hadn’t picked his student willingly, more like he’d been _handed_ him by unanimous vote of the rest of the Akatsuki. Of course, at the time they had thought it was a brilliant idea to put Itachi in charge of him, though if they knew how things were currently standing they might have relieved him from his duties. Even so, Itachi was the only Akatsuki member relatively close to Konoha, and probably the only one able to handle the kid. Actually, he was surprised an Uchiha hadn’t been put in charge earlier.

Nevertheless he was stuck training the new up-and-coming member of Akatsuki, whether either of them liked it or not.

Eyes adjusting to the dim lighting, Itachi paused when he reached the back of the hall where a large throne-like chair cut out of the rock was situated. Very few people knew that Menma had used this place as a base during his so called ‘escapades’ that time, and Itachi found it slightly ironic to look at the blond kid slouched on its seat and knowing there had been not one, but _two_ masked men responsible for the near catastrophic event.

Not surprisingly, Menma didn’t like talking about it.

“You’re early,” Itachi commented, discerning a bored look on the younger ninja’s face as his eyes finished adjusting.

“Didn’t really have anything better to do,” Menma replied with a shrug, leaning his head in one hand to observe Itachi. “Though I was early last time, too.”

“I suppose.”

He could feel a slight tension to Menma’s presence, and that pleased him. He _should_ be feeling tense considering his treatment of Itachi’s precious little brother. Not that Sasuke knew he knew about their fight, for some reason Sasuke had been so secretive about Menma even though it was obvious they were involved.

“I was half expecting you not to show up at all,” he continued, narrowing his eyes when Menma swallowed uncomfortably.

“It’s not like I’m happy to be here,” Menma replied, straightening up on the throne but looking to the side. “We both know the only reason I’m joining Akatsuki is to keep me out of the village for a while.”

Itachi spent a minute in silence contemplating the boy, the tension in his shoulders that seemed permanent, the dejected expression on his face, and how he appeared… _spent_ , somehow. He hadn’t been told explicitly what the reason for Menma joining them was, mostly vague excuses that if he became Hokage then they needed a new member from Konoha to represent them, or that the experience would be good for Menma. It was all top secret, no one outside Akatsuki and Tsunade’s closest advisors knew.

“Weren’t you also ordered to stay inside the village because of Naruto’s arrival?”

Menma shrugged, glancing at him from the corner of his eye.

“Hasn’t Sasuke talked to you? I did think you’d be angry at me.”

“This is work,” he answered, keeping his tone light but it was clear Menma took the hint not to try and hang out after work was finished.

“So you’re angry,” Menma mumbled, not surprised. “Sorry for causing you trouble.”

“Am I really the one you should apologize to?”

Standing up, Menma rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck as if he hadn’t heard his question and instead prepared for training. Physical training was only a small part of what Itachi was supposed to teach him, and he had to wonder why Menma seemed to assume today was one of those sessions.

“No,” Menma said simply, looking Itachi square in the eye. “But what happened between me and your brother is none of your business. I will do what I want.”

Itachi could feel the tick in his eye, and decidedly removed his Akatsuki cloak. Today was definitely going to be a physical training session.

xxx

If Naruto had a destination in mind, Sasuke couldn’t figure out what it was. They were walking fast, Naruto still keeping his wrist in a tight grip, and Sasuke was growing more and more irritable. Still, Naruto didn’t look like he noticed anything around him, lips either forming half said words or being chewed on, his eyebrows deeply furrowed. Sasuke wasn’t worried, of course not, but Naruto _had_ been acting strange the past days and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was all going to culminate soon, and whether or not he really wanted to be in the vicinity when it happened.

The final straw came when Naruto decided to drag him up the stairs leading to the top of the Hokage mountain.

“Naruto,” he said in a firm tone, digging his heels in to force the other into pausing. “I’m not _walking_ the whole way up.”

“Up? Up where?” Naruto asked, turning his head upwards in confusion, his mouth forming into an ‘o’ when he realized where they were going. “Oh, up there. Uh, no, maybe not.”

Of course, it’s not that Sasuke was tired or anything, he just couldn’t see the point in taking the stairs when they could easily jump up using some chakra boosted moves. Still staring straight up, Naruto’s eyes got a glassy look that either meant he was bored or talking to Kurama. Sasuke guessed the latter because soon Naruto puffed his cheeks out in annoyance and huffed, finally letting go of Sasuke’s arm as he crossed his own.

Leaving the dobe to himself, Sasuke walked over to the railing on the small landing they were standing on, which was connecting two staircases and providing a good spot to overlook the village below. He rarely climbed the Hokage mountain, not too excited about the prospect of seeing the village in its entirety. It was easier to forget where he was when it wasn’t so… _obvious_. It also reminded him of that time he went back to talk to the dead kages. This Konoha was certainly more alike the one he’d grown up in compared to the reconstructed one, except now he realized there was no secluded Uchiha district.

He hadn’t really thought about it before, but the Uchiha seemed to live scattered throughout the village here, and the small lake where he’d spent a large chunk of his lonely years didn’t even have a dock in the same place he remembered.

Since it was getting dark quickly he couldn’t quite make it out, but the area he grew up in was filled to the brim with tightly packed houses that looked nothing like the elegant ones his family had owned.

“What are you looking at?”

Naruto must have gotten over his talk with Kurama because he came to stand next to him instead, leaning his arms on the railing and squinting at the sunset. His face was lit up just barely in orange and dark yellow, the last rays of sun glittering in his eyes.

Sasuke shook his head resolutely, getting rid of the weird observations he was making. There was nothing interesting about the sun shining on Naruto’s face. It did that every day. Except when it was cloudy of course.

“Oi, answer when I’m talking to you!”

Naruto’s elbow nudged him in the ribs and brought forth a nasty scowl, not that he seemed bothered by it. It really was rather disturbing how little Naruto was affected by his glares nowadays. When they were thirteen he would _at least_ have gotten a stupid remark about it.

“What do you think I’m looking at,” he muttered, remembering his irritation over Naruto dragging him all the way there for no reason. “I _could_ have been looking at the meat instead but evidently you thought it was a better idea to just randomly run off. Moron.”

“I didn’t randomly run off,” Naruto objected, angry for a second before deflating again. “It was your fault anyway.”

“I doubt that,” Sasuke disagreed, but Naruto looked down so that his face was mostly hidden from view.

The following silence was slightly awkward, a prickling feeling creeping up Sasuke’s back and making him feel highly uncomfortable. Clearly there was something on Naruto’s mind that had caused him to leave the restaurant so abruptly, and Sasuke hated having to wait for Naruto to explain things. He had a gut feeling he wasn’t going to like the reason. It didn’t help that Naruto started fidgeting, scratching old paint off the railing and scuffing his shoe against the ground. In the quiet of the night, those small noises were successfully ticking Sasuke off.

“Either spit it out or I’m leaving,” he ordered, Naruto stiffening before chuckling nervously.

“It’s nothing, really.”

“Well then I’m leaving.”

“No!”

Sasuke had barely managed to take a step back before Naruto’s fingers dug into his forearm, blue eyes pleading with him to stay.

“I’ll tell you, okay? Just… just give me a sec.”

Sighing, Sasuke returned to his previous position, glancing at Naruto’s distraught face. He couldn’t understand what could be so difficult to talk about. Unless Naruto wanted to talk about _feelings,_ in which case he should definitely plan his escape route. It was one thing to sometimes drift into more serious topics, and Naruto did have a tendency to spout emotional stuff, but the way he was carefully thinking it over could only mean bad news.

“I forgot to tell you about Jiraiya being dead here too, but Asuna has a teacher with the same name so at first I thought he was alive but yeah he wasn’t and…”

Naruto trailed off, abnormally focused on the piece of dry paint he was scratching off with a nail.

“Nice try,” Sasuke told him, still not sure he wanted to hear the actual thing bothering him but too used to calling out his excuses to stop himself.

Letting out a groan Naruto slumped against the railing, muttering to himself about what sounded suspiciously like ‘perceptive bastards thinking they were cool and shit’. Honestly he was starting to get tired with the whole thing now, he was a hundred percent sure that if Naruto could just learn to speak his mind instead of faking everything being fine then his own life would be so much easier. For one he wouldn’t need to spend unnecessary time trying to figure out dobe language.

“Umm, Sasuke, can I ask you a question?”

Well fucking finally.

“If you’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Bastard,” Naruto pouted, shoving him with his shoulder.

For some obscure reason the contact didn’t cease as Naruto took a deep breath, let it out, then took another deep one only to let it out again at which point Sasuke got tired for real and lightly slapped the back of his head.

“Oww! What was that for?!”

“You never getting to the point.”

Naruto bit his lip, his reluctant expression easy to see even in the fading light now that he was standing so close. Kind of too close, actually, but Sasuke waved the thought off and concentrated on waiting impatiently. Naruto seemed intent on doing anything he could to annoy him today and invading his personal space was one thing he’d unfortunately already gotten used to ignoring.

“So um, what do you think of gay people?”

Sasuke almost threw him over the railing. The only reason he didn’t was because he didn’t want half the village to suffer from Naruto’s angry yelling as he fell. He was so considerate.

“Is there a point to this question?”

Instead of getting annoyed, Naruto only kept staring at the ground and gnawing on his lip. Sasuke was starting to realize that maybe this actually was what had been bothering Naruto the past days. Maybe all those people calling the both of them gay and assuming them to be in a relationship had finally gotten him to the point where he contemplated going on a killing spree to get rid of everyone bothering them, only checking to see if Sasuke would think it was worth the effort.

Or well, Sasuke wished that would have been the case because the solution would be so much easier than whatever problem Naruto had. Sadly wishful thinking got him nowhere and the atmosphere turned increasingly more awkward as Naruto tensely waited for his reply.

“I don’t think anything in particular about them, you’re the one panicking as soon as the word is mentioned.”

After sending him a quick glance, Naruto chewed harder on his lips. This continued for a minute or so, Naruto alternating between glancing and chewing, and fidgeting some more. Just as Sasuke was beginning to think that the village might forgive him anyway for disturbing the peace and quiet, Naruto inhaled shakily and ran a hand through his hair, licking his dry lips before attempting to explain himself.

“But what if you like girls, but then there’s guys too, and it’s like, being with guys is totally weird but also _not_ weird, and then everyone just assumes you’re gay and…” he made a grimace, rubbing his cheek and staring with gloomy eyes at the view. “I know I like girls,” he added in a small voice, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself but not being sure if he should.

It dawned on Sasuke then that Naruto was just as much of a dobe as he kept calling him.

“You can’t be serious,” he said, dismayed that all along Naruto was fretting over something so tiny and insignificant as whether he liked girls or guys or _whatever_.

“I know it’s weird!” Naruto exclaimed, frustrated and pulling at his hair. “I just can’t help it, and Kurama keeps telling me I’m being an idiot and that I obviously like guys but-“

“No,” Sasuke said, placing his palm across Naruto’s distraught face. “There’s nothing weird. You like girls? Whatever. You like guys? Good for you. Can we go back to the barbeque now or do you think they finished all the food already?”

Naruto was gaping at him, literally gaping, so shocked that they stood there for almost thirty seconds before he seemed to realize that Sasuke’s hand was smacked against his face. Quickly pulling it away, Naruto gripped his wrist with both hands and squeezed, still staring at him with ridiculously wide eyes.

“You mean you don’t think it’s weird? You mean it’s okay if I, I mean if, if I,” Naruto faltered, swallowing thickly and averting his eyes again.

Really, what was Naruto acting all shy and embarrassed for? He didn’t give two shits if Naruto liked guys or girls or both as long as he didn’t replace Sasuke with anyone.

…wait, scratch that last part. He had no idea how it snuck in there.

“This was seriously bothering you?”Sasuke asked, wondering how someone like Naruto, who had travelled with the infamous pervert Jiraiya, who owned way too many magazines with both guys and girls scantily dressed in questionable positions, could feel so distressed over something like being interested in guys.

“What, you know what it’s like at home,” Naruto mumbled, blushing angrily.

He was still peeling off paint with his nails, more viciously now, stiff and defensive and Sasuke felt like he should do something but really couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t simply too, well, _close_.

“Well we’re not at home,” he sighed, and Naruto looked up sharply, studying his profile while Sasuke let his gaze travel through the darkened village. “Besides, it’s not like that stuff is anyone else’s business. People are way too interested in other people’s personal lives.”

He frowned, thinking both of Sakura’s earlier questioning and all the annoying people gossiping about him in their own dimension. Naruto had always been sensitive to those things, though, so maybe it wasn’t that strange after all that he’d been worrying about it.

Before he could say anything else, Naruto released a heavy sigh that ended in a faint smile.

“You’re the best, Sasuke,” he said, at last seeming to relax again.

Sasuke merely grunted in response, his frown returning when he suddenly found himself surrounded by arms belonging to a certain dobe who had face-planted onto his shoulder for some obscure reason.

“Don’t hug me,” he complained automatically, as always wondering what exactly in his behavior that made Naruto think hugging was a good idea.

“You’re the best,” Naruto repeated himself, the words muffled this time and Sasuke’s shoulder heating up from the warm air leaving his mouth.

There was some kind of tingling there, too, and the heat seemed to stubbornly spread throughout his body, but Sasuke refused to dwell on such things.

“Tch,” he said dismissively, standing completely still so the moron wouldn’t get the silly idea that he was in any way hugging him back.

If he leaned his cheek against the top of Naruto’s head it was _completely_ coincidental and only because his neck was tired.

xxx

Menma arrived home with a slight limp, though it would be gone in the morning thanks to the kyuubi’s healing. He was feeling sore all over, in fact, and he was sure the shallow cut on his side had soaked his shirt. Not that he cared.

The lights were on in the house, just his luck that his parents would be home tonight. The only good thing about joining Akatsuki was that he could finally move out. His parents were good people but they seriously nagged too much.

If they only knew what he was capable of…

Shrugging the dangerous thoughts off, Menma sneaked in through his window and headed straight for the shower, successfully locking himself inside the bathroom before either parent could come greet him. Not that it stopped his mother from knocking on the door as he was peeling off the ruined shirt.

“Menma? You really should tell us if you’ll be skipping dinner.”

“Yeah, sorry,” he called back, deciding it was probably best to bring the shirt into the shower with him and rinse it off before getting rid of it.

He knew urging Itachi into a fight had been a stupid idea, but he was still itching to continue, wishing he could go find some secluded training area and break it in tiny pieces. Sadly Itachi had followed him home almost the whole way, making any such plans impossible. Going out again now was just too much trouble.

The feeling of hot water beating against his back was soothing, and he stood for several minutes with his head bent forwards, trying not to think of anything. Like it always did whether he wanted it to or not, Sasuke’s face floated into his mind. His pretty lips, always quick to laugh but just as easily downturned. His expressive eyes, dark and alluring, looking at him in ways he shouldn’t, couldn’t…

Gritting his teeth, Menma straightened up again and grabbed for the shampoo, massaging it thoroughly into his hair and ignoring the knots he found. There were things he really could do without thinking of right now, especially Sasuke.

Sasuke couldn’t be his to think of, anyway.

Closing his eyes he rinsed the shampoo off, holding his breath as long as he could before ducking out of the water spray and gasping for air. He wished he could stay in the shower the whole night, never needing to sleep. Getting to work on his body instead he winced as he gingerly cleaned the wound, imagining for a torturous second that there was another hand there, a much paler one, caressing his skin with delicate care.

Placing a palm against the shower wall he leaned his forehead against it, pressing his other hand against the cut and letting the pain wash away all thought.

It was better that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes hello I'm still alive and well! I just had a severe case of writer's block by the end of summer break, and then I got a new job! A weekday job! So I am currently juggling three jobs and studying full time. Isn't it amazing. This job was way too good to pass on though, so yeah that's how it is. 
> 
> Anyway! Did Naruto finally get the hint? *gasp* Sasuke seems like he's got a ways to go though... That boy is very inventive when it comes to thinking up excuses. I'm sure you're all angry you didn't get any Kurama commentary this chapter, but don't worry! You will get too much probably when we reach the real deal! Which is soon yay! 
> 
> And Menma finally makes his appearance... I'm guessing some of you are happy Itachi got him good lol. 
> 
> As always there were things I meant to say in the AN but I keep forgetting the important stuff. I'll try to get better with writing life updates on ao3 and ff.net though, but if you're worried whether or not I'm alive you can go check my [tumblr](http://fangirlandiknowit101.tumblr.com/) because I'm always there haha. If I'm lucky I can write a bit more this week, but we'll see! And it might be for other stories heh, I'm so behind on everything it's depressing, really. At least I'm earning money wiiee.


	26. I've got a bad feeling about this

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's chapter title is in honor of the new Star Wars movie. Don't worry, it's just Sasuke being his normal, ominous self. 
> 
> Merry Christmas and all that!
> 
> *Throws chapter at you and hope you forget I'm late*

Sasuke was feeling on edge. It had started sometime last night, continued in the morning, and now during work he couldn’t shake the feeling off that _something_ was different. Maybe it was Naruto’s terrible singing in the morning still lingering in his ears… But no, there was _something_ and he didn’t like not knowing exactly why he felt skittish.

It was almost as if he was subconsciously expecting this _something_ , and not having it happen yet put his conscious thoughts on edge.

Sasuke didn’t believe much in supernatural stuff but he did believe in his gut feeling, and currently it was telling him to watch out. It was probably Naruto’s fault. At least it felt better to blame it on him, because then he could push it to the back of his mind and ignore it.

Either way, Naruto had seemed much happier after getting everything off his chest last night, so that much was good he supposed. It was just that, well, his happy had been a strange sort of happy. He’d caught him staring, not necessarily at Sasuke’s face, with an almost curious expression before looking away again. It wasn’t _only_ curiosity, but he preferred not to dwell on the various emotions flickering across that tan face. He’d felt slightly relieved to leave for work, getting put on paperwork duty today.

Which was really fucking awful, because the filing system they used was giving him a headache as Fugaku’s assistant Tomoko tried to explain it to him. She was an elderly woman, someone he wasn’t sure he’d seen as a child, with a kind smile but merciless expectations.

“Alright,” she started, in that voice Sasuke had learnt during the past few hours meant she was going to quiz him. “Your colleague hands you a report from the hearing of a victim of theft. The incident took place last night while they were asleep. What do you do with it?”

Last night… Naruto had been hugging him in his sleep. He’d barely been able to move at all, dammit.

“I mark it with today’s date as date of hearing, then yesterday’s date as time of incident, then check that the answers contain all the necessary information before handing it to the person in charge of assigning the investigations.”

“Good,” she nodded, preparing another question.

Sasuke was so utterly, terribly bored. He clearly wasn’t cut out for paperwork, sending a wishful look after a couple of officers heading out for patrol. He’d spent so long travelling around and training, and then the past year was all spent outdoors building stuff. As much as he’d found construction work to be a menial task it sure as hell beat paperwork.

“And what does that necessary information consist of?”

Refraining from banging his head onto his desk, Sasuke rattled off the most important ones, only forgetting one of them.

Luckily he was left on his own soon afterwards, with Tomoko dumping a large pile of papers on his desk. She said they were old cases that could be stored away, asking him to double check their statuses and cross them out from the assigned investigations list (which was less of a list and more like a thick book) so that the officers wouldn’t need to bother with closed cases.

It was slow work, and he got several pitying looks from others walking past him. Still, he felt rather satisfied by the end of the day when he’d managed to reduce the pile to half its size. Strangely enough he was starving, even though he hadn’t even done any physical work besides turning papers and scribbling notes. Iruka had been nice enough to send him off with a bento, but apparently his stomach had already forgotten all about it.

He exchanged a few words with Tomoko before preparing to leave, surprised when she told him Fugaku wanted to see him in his office before he left. Walking over to the office, he knocked before being told to enter.

“How was your day?” Fugaku asked, smiling at him with a rather tired face.

“Fine,” Sasuke replied stiffly, not exactly used to this type of conversation. “And yours?”

Fugaku laughed quietly, shaking his head.

“We’ve still got trouble with those escaped criminals,” he admitted, rubbing his cheek where stubble was beginning to grow. “And then there was a married couple who wouldn’t stop fighting even when physically separated… There’s always extra work when ninjas squabble, all the damaged property.”

He smiled despite his words, motioning for Sasuke to sit down.

“But enough of that. I feel like I haven’t seen you in several days, Mikoto is worried you don’t enjoy her cooking.”

Sighing, Sasuke leaned back in his chair, feeling the strain of the past days in his shoulders.

“It’s nothing like that,” he said. “Naruto just keeps dragging me away.”

“Well,” Fugaku said with a teasing look, “he’s quite fond of you.”

Embarrassed but not sure why, Sasuke shrugged and let his eyes sweep around the small office instead. It was filled with books and stacks of paper, diplomas hanging neatly on a wall. He wondered if this was how his own father’s office had looked like.

“If you can, try to join us for dinner tonight. Shisui’s in charge of making dessert and he always creates the most interesting things.”

Not so sure that sounded promising, Sasuke still nodded dutifully.

“And now, to move on to business. I know that your current situation is a lot to deal with, and we’re all happy to see you back on your feet again. But I wanted to ask you if, after you’ve had a couple days to recover, you’d like to come with me on a mission?”

Sasuke’s stomach made a somersault, his breath caught in his throat for a moment. Join Fugaku on a mission? He couldn’t help the conflicting emotions of apprehension and excitement.

“What kind of mission?” he asked carefully, reminding himself that he hadn’t been on active duty for a year, and that he hadn’t exactly been doing any regular types of missions before that. He didn’t want to screw up because he didn’t know the routines.

“We’ve gotten reports of a certain wanted man being seen over by the border to the Land of Tea. It’s a couple days of travel, but they’ve requested our aid since they don’t have any ninja of their own.”

“I assume this guy is rather dangerous.”

Fugaku nodded, clasping his hands in front of him as all humor left his expression.

“He’s an exiled ninja from Suna. Some years ago they discovered him selling secret ninja techniques to whoever paid the most. He’s one of the escaped prisoners, and it would definitely look good if we caught him again.”

Sasuke swallowed. He hadn’t expected that his first mission as a ninja of Konoha (even though this was a different Konoha) would be to capture a missing nin.  

“I’ll consider it.”

Another nod, and then Fugaku relaxed again.

“And before I forget, I noticed you and Naruto left your forehead protectors at home.” Opening a drawer, he pulled out two headbands, both dark blue. “Please use them as you like.”

Feeling everything switch to slow-motion, Sasuke felt his heart pound in his ears as he reached out automatically to accept the items. He opened his mouth but no sound came out, feeling their weight in his hand.

Neither he nor Naruto had worn theirs this past year. Of course, Sasuke only had the old, scratched one that Naruto had kept (and wasn’t he just something else for holding on to it this long). For some reason, Naruto had decided he wouldn’t wear his either until Sasuke was reinstated as an official ninja again. He wondered if he would have been by now if they hadn’t ended up here.

In Sasuke’s opinion it was rather silly that Naruto refused to wear it, he was working in the Hokage tower for crying out loud. But his friend had stubbornly held on to his promise, storing both their forehead protectors away in his apartment.

“Everything alright?” Fugaku asked in concern, obviously noticing how Sasuke kept staring at his hand in silence.

“Yeah,” he forced out, lowering it and looking up again. “Thank you.”

After promising yet again to try and show up for dinner, Sasuke left the police headquarters in a daze. The forehead protectors rested in a pocket, feeling strange there. Out of place. He hadn’t worn one in so long, and hadn’t even been sure that he would start even after becoming a ninja again.

But still. In this world, things were different.

In this world, he worked under his father. In this world, his mother worried he didn’t want to eat at home. In this world, he had a brother and cousin, and a whole clan.

Maybe he could wear it, after all.

His feet took him to Iruka’s place, having promised Naruto he’d come by after work. Coincidentally, Naruto seemed to have just arrived back with the kids from the Academy, all of them milling around the front door. Instead of joining, Sasuke stopped just inside the gate, leaning against it and lifting his face towards the sun. Getting used to all these emotions was so tiresome. How did people even keep up with it? Sure, he’d been doing just fine as a child but that was long ago, enough to feel like a different life. Being as expressive as Naruto would have to be insanely tiring.

Soon enough, Naruto managed to shove all the children inside and came jogging back outside to meet him.

“You’re early,” he commented, stretching his arms high above his head before letting them fall back down.

“More like you’re late,” Sasuke retorted, his mind working on overdrive to try and decide what to do with the contents of his pocket.

“Nah, but they all insisted on staying for a while to watch some other kids spar. It was pretty cute.”

“Hn.”

Squinting, Naruto snuck closer to him, inspecting his face.

“And what’s the matter with you?” he asked, squint turning into a frown when Sasuke only swallowed and gripped the fence behind him tighter. “Did something happen?”

Averting his eyes, Sasuke couldn’t understand why he was making such a big deal out of this. All he had to do was give Naruto one of the headbands and that was that.

“You look kinda pale,” Naruto mused, brushing a few of his bangs from his forehead, and Sasuke sucked in a breath.

“I’m fine,” he exhaled, still refusing to meet Naruto’s eyes.

“Yeah well, usually when you say that you’re actually not fine at all.”

Sasuke pressed his lips together, wishing Naruto didn’t have to be so close. He felt trapped between him and the fence, wondering why his heart beat so fast when Naruto’s breath washed over his mouth.

His need to escape the situation was bigger than the reluctance to tell Naruto, and so he shoved his hand down his pocket and all but pushed the headbands into Naruto’s face.

“I got these from Fugaku,” he muttered, glancing at the other’s surprised look before crossing his arms and turning his head to the side. “He said we can do what we want with them.”

He could feel Naruto staring at him, uncharacteristically silent. If only he would say something! Sasuke didn’t want to stand there with all the tension building up, digging his nails into his arms and drawing shallow breaths.

Naruto was turning the headbands over, examining them, eyes distant in thought. The sunlight caught in the metal, reflecting it perfectly since both surfaces were polished and smooth. Definitely unused.

“You shouldn’t have to wear this,” Naruto broke the silence with, thumb running over the metal on one of them. “It’s-“

“It’s just a forehead protector,” Sasuke interrupted him with, unable to deal with the sad, regretful look on Naruto’s face. “I’m wearing the police symbol, aren’t I.”

Naruto’s eyes ran along his arm to where the symbol was sewed on, a tightness to his mouth as he squeezed the metal plates in his hand.

“This is different. I wanted to give you one when-“ He caught himself, cheeks dusted pink as he rubbed his neck. “Well, you know.”

“Nothing says I would have accepted it.”

As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them. Naruto had flinched, both hands wringing the forehead protectors now.

“I wouldn’t leave,” he added softly, biting the inside of his cheek when Naruto raised his eyes, so blue and filled with emotions Sasuke didn’t want to think about.

“Yeah. You told me.”

Sasuke felt his breath leave him, lungs impossible to fill again as Naruto’s gaze held his. He didn’t want to feel like this. Why did Naruto always have to make things so, so _irrational_. He found himself itching to do things he wasn’t supposed to, rushes of what could be fear or exhilaration filling his body as he stood frozen. Had this been a fight, he would have pulled out a kunai and cut himself just so he could regain control, but even that wasn’t possible as Naruto came closer, the heat from his body like scorching fire as fingers brushed over the back of his hand.

“What are you going to do?” Naruto whispered, and Sasuke couldn’t remember why he was asking that.

Do? About what?

Naruto’s eyes flickered down at the headbands he still held, and Sasuke felt the tension leave his body for a glorious second. Then it was back, but at least he could breathe, blue eyes determined as Naruto lifted his hand to run light fingertips across Sasuke’s forehead.

“I’ll wear it if you do,” he continued, but Sasuke barely registered the words.

No, he was much too occupied with the crashing waves of emotion wreaking havoc in his body. When he concentrated, he could sense two opposing sides doing the crashing. One was that colorful brightness he’d felt during his coma, the one he’d groaned and suffered through and pretended he’d never felt before.

The other side was pretty much every other emotion.

“Sasuke?”

Closing his eyes, Sasuke took a deep breath and begged the storm inside his body to pass. He didn’t know how to deal with this. Hell, he hardly even understood what was going on! So much for being a genius…

“It’s whatever,” he forced out through clenched teeth, everything so _wound up_ and it needed to _stop_.

He heard Naruto sigh deeply, and only when the other ninja relaxed did Sasuke realize that Naruto had been this tense, too.

“I wanted to do this properly, but…” Naruto trailed off, and while Sasuke still had his eyes closed he could hear him put one forehead protector into a pocket and then raise the other with both hands. “Lean down a little.”

Drained and weak now, Sasuke’s shoulders slumped as he did as told, a shiver running down his spine when Naruto’s fingers held his temples gently and lowered his head even further. He felt fabric touch above his eyebrows, and then something brushed over the middle of his forehead, so quick it was barely there, but-

Sasuke’s eyes flew open, staring unseeingly at the ground as Naruto tied the ends together securely around his head. Was that- But- It couldn’t be-

“That should do it,” Naruto mumbled, stepping back and letting go of him. “You look…”

Forcing his heart back down his throat, Sasuke swallowed thickly and straightened up again. He wouldn’t look at Naruto, though, raising a hand to the forehead protector instead. It seemed as if Naruto’s words had failed him because he stayed silent, not moving as Sasuke adjusted his hair around the fabric.

At this point, he was feeling so much he’d turned numb. He spent much more time than needed to arrange his hair, his brain stuck on a repeat of _why what the hell was that did he really but what do I do and why can’t I just fucking BREATHE_.

Was it going to happen now? That _something_ he’d been expecting, was that now? Because he was _not_ fucking _ready_ , and Naruto was still too _close_ and now-

And now he was hugging him, holding him tight against his body, and all of a sudden Sasuke felt so _nice_ and _calm_ and _warm_. He drew in a shuddering breath, holding it in for a moment before slowly letting it out again. It was completely irrational that he’d calm down this fast simply from a hug. Glancing behind himself, he could see Naruto’s arms glow faintly of chakra. Oh. Figures.

But there was no need to _hug_ him then, was there? He wasn’t in a position to complain though, because right now things were feeling pretty damn good compared to earlier.

“I’m sorry,” Naruto mumbled into his shoulder, making Sasuke frown in confusion. “I didn’t notice you were so upset.”

Upset? Sasuke hadn’t been _upset_. He’d just… suffered from hormones or something. He was fine. Totally. His jaw just needed to unclench so he could open his mouth and say it.

Naruto pushed the forehead protector off his head, but Sasuke barely noticed that. He didn’t care about it. What a silly thing to be bothered by. No, there was something _much_ worse going on here, and he needed to occupy himself so he wouldn’t have to deal with it.

“I’m-” he started, stopped by Naruto’s fingers digging into his back.

Okay, so he wasn’t _fine_ , but it’s not like he was dying or something.

“Let’s get you something to eat, and then you should take a nice long bath and go to bed,” Naruto ordered, Sasuke huffing in disagreement.

Those things didn’t seem like good distractions at all. Nope, that just wouldn’t do.

“I promised Charasuke to train with him today,” he lied, though it was only a technical lie because he’d promised to do it _soon_ , just not at a specified time.

“What?! You are _not_ going to-“

Sasuke promptly shoved his hand against Naruto’s mouth, a rather difficult feat since he was still being hugged.

“I’ve been hunched over paperwork all day, I didn’t bring it up for discussion.”

Naruto glared at him, seething, which was funny because he never said no when Sasuke asked to train with _him_.

“ _Fine_ ,” he hissed, “But I’ll be watching you.”

“Your threats mean nothing to me,” Sasuke droned, looking off to the side, another difficult feat when Naruto was practically in his face.

He felt much too comfortable to shove him away, however. He could feel the last slivers of tension drifting off, driven by Naruto’s chakra. Though he would rather die than admit it, he couldn’t help but bask in the sweet feeling of it, no stupid emotions flapping around with Naruto’s chakra running through his veins. He could have probably asked him to do this instead of taking that calming drug Orochimaru had given him, but yeah that was just never going to happen.

“You are such a _bastard_ ,” Naruto complained, letting go of him and throwing his hands in the air. “And Kurama agrees with me!”

“Tch, whatever. Let’s go.”

He turned, opening the gate again and making his way down the street, Naruto catching up to him after a couple of seconds.

“Where are we even going?”

“My parents’ house.”

Sasuke faltered in his step, but Naruto put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him forwards.

“Oh, sweet! I was wondering when we’d go there again.”

“Hn, Shisui’s in charge of dessert though so I wouldn’t expect too much.”

“Eeh, what’s he making?”

Sasuke shrugged, all too aware of Naruto’s hand lingering in its spot. He decided to ignore it.

If he could also ignore life and just go to bed for a few years, things would be fucking great.

xxx

Charasuke wasn’t pouting, and he certainly wasn’t hiding either. He just didn’t feel like being social, that was all. And it didn’t have anything to do with his brother and cousin playing husbands in the kitchen, either.

Reading this book was much better than Itachi’s cooking show, anyway.

After another couple of minutes of reading the same page over and over, however, he gave up and threw the book towards the other end of his bed. Just as he’d relaxed back against his pillows, a knock on the door had him scrambling to pick it up again, managing to get into position just as the door opened a crack.

And people called him slow.

“He’s not here,” he heard an all too familiar voice say, closing the door again.

“Don’t be a moron,” another familiar voice scolded as the door opened again, revealing none other than his alter ego with a sullen Naruto trudging behind him.

“Hello, Sasuke,” Charasuke said, not necessarily happy to see him but right now he’d prefer him over the others.

“And what about me?!” Naruto yelled, causing both him and his alter ego to roll their eyes.

“You didn’t want to see me anyway,” Charasuke huffed, crossing his arms after dropping his book to the side. “And why are you here?”

“For dinner,” Sasuke shrugged, looking so nonchalantly cool that Charasuke wanted to throw the book at him. “And then our training session.”

Eyes widening, Charasuke was just about to exclaim his surprise when Sasuke made a face at him, motioning towards Naruto.

“Oh, right,” he said. “I almost forgot.”

“Sasuke needs rest,” Naruto muttered, glaring at him for no reason.

“We already went over this,” Sasuke sighed.

“We did not! You just decided things for yourself!”

“I wasn’t aware I couldn’t.”

The clipped tone seemed to work on Naruto, since he sucked on his lips and settled for glaring. Charasuke wondered if they were having a fight, but they didn’t exactly look like they were considering how close they were standing, and how Naruto’s glare didn’t really have much anger behind it.

 _It must be nice to be so in love_ , he thought sullenly to himself.

xxx

Two hours later, Charasuke was regretting ever agreeing to this. He was sure that if Sasuke tried teaching him on his own then things would be pretty great, but for the past half an hour, training had consisted of Naruto constantly arguing with Sasuke over the correct way of teaching, and Sasuke arguing back.

It didn’t help that Sasuke had first asked him to show them what he could do, asking to spar against him. Now _that_ had been embarrassing on its own, but when Charasuke had to show all his techniques one after one, both the other two ninjas hadn’t been able to hide the worried looks between them.

“Is that all?” Sasuke had asked, and it was almost worse that he sounded pitying rather than insulting.

Charasuke had been sure Sasuke would give up on him right there, but instead they’d started that argument over how they should proceed to teach him everything they thought he needed to know.

“Sasuke!” Naruto shouted, waving animatedly with his hands. “He can’t even do a proper clone! Like not even a normal, useless clone!”

“And what good are those anyway, if you don’t have enough chakra to use them in a fight?”

“But that’s like, one of the _first_ things we learnt at the Academy!”

“No, it’s one of the first things everyone except _you_ learnt. All _you_ did was run around and throw kunais off target!”

“What?!”

And that was pretty much how it went. At first Charasuke had felt insulted, then he’d found them kind of amusing, but now he was just bored.

“Are you going to actually start training me or do I need to go and buy earplugs?” he shouted at them, surprisingly succeeding in getting their attention.

They stared at him, then stared at each other, and come _on_ , Charasuke could practically _taste_ the tension between them. He wasn’t particularly interested in getting caught in some weird kind of foreplay, when he wasn’t invited for the main course.

“You know what,” he continued, standing up from his seat on an overturned log. “I think I’m gonna head back home, and we can do this again when you’ve decided on a training plan.”

Sasuke frowned at him, but then he nodded.

“You’re probably right. This moron is just going to waste your time like this.”

“Excuse me?!” Naruto yelled, but neither of them paid attention to him.

“Alright, great. Thanks for, well, doing this I guess. See you later.”

Raising his hand in a wave, he turned and left. He’d barely made it a couple of steps before the argument started again, this time debating whether or not Sasuke had a right to call Naruto a moron.

_What a stupid couple._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, looks like Sasuke has something to think about too, right? I was thinking about how those two always progress as a pair, so it makes sense that they start figuring things out at the same time. And we'll get more scenes with Charasuke later, with some actual training:3 I'll try to write lots more now during the break!


	27. Interruptions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My new year's resolution is to update something every week. It probably should have been to study properly instead since I have two exams next week. And I'll probably fail that resolution soon anyway. But I bring you another chapter! First update of the new year, yay! 
> 
> I'm also going to upload the [extras](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5680528/chapters/13086106) I've written on tumblr for this story. If you haven't read them (there is a little smut and stuff lol) then you should! 
> 
> Also I thought there'd be more of a commotion about the fact that Naruto kissed Sasuke last chapterX) Maybe we'll get a real kiss soon, yeah?
> 
> Until then, let's make our favorite boys suffer a little more:3

Naruto had a funny feeling in his stomach. At first he’d thought it was the result of actually eating the strange, well, _thing_ that Shisui had presented proudly at dinner (only he and Itachi had been brave enough to join in eating it). He’d said it was inspired by that ninja chef Itachi liked, and Charasuke had asked if the ninja part was trying to survive digesting it.

But no, it wasn’t the dessert that had Naruto’s stomach making him queasy. He tried to ignore it as he mopped the floor of the kitchen, scrubbing extra hard at a spot of dried tomato sauce from last night’s dinner. Snorting, he recalled the look of disappointment on Sasuke’s face that morning when Iruka mentioned that dinner had involved his homemade tomato sauce, made even funnier by how easily Iruka noticed and proceeded to make him another bento for lunch. Sasuke was going to become spoiled, and he didn’t even work there or anything! But he supposed Iruka was like that, more so in this world.

Satisfied when the sauce disappeared, Naruto rubbed his eyes with the back of a hand. For some reason he felt so tired, only waking up when Sasuke kicked him out of bed. So harsh, jeez. If he didn’t like him so much he might have-

He pulled up short, holding his breath as if waiting for someone to pop out of nowhere and tell him how wrong it was for him to feel like this. But no one came, and Naruto slowly let the air out, feeling ridiculous. Sasuke had even told him yesterday that it wasn’t weird, that he wasn’t wrong for liking guys, but then again, Sasuke didn’t know it was because of _him_ that he felt like this at all.

Maybe he was so tired because he’d spent too long before falling asleep thinking about this.

_Maybe?_

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he muttered, dipping the mop in its water and then squeezing it out, continuing his cleaning.

_You never talk to me lately. What did I ever do to you?_

Rolling his eyes, Naruto used more force than necessary to make the floor squeaky clean. Kurama had certainly been of no help last night, only giving him bad advice that mostly went along the lines of ‘just kiss him already, you’ve got no guts!’ which Naruto found extremely unhelpful.

_Come on, he didn’t seem to mind yesterday…_

Naruto bit his cheek, gripping the wooden shaft of the mop so hard his knuckles whitened. _Yesterday_ had been completely out of the blue, and he wasn’t so sure Sasuke even noticed.

“Yesterday doesn’t count,” he whined, glaring at nothing in particular. “He was upset! It wasn’t even a kiss, I just, I mean, kind of brushed his forehead and-“

He stopped himself there, feeling a violent blush heating up his face. Oh god, he couldn’t believe he’d done that! But seeing Sasuke with those forehead protectors, telling Naruto it was fine to wear one even though, even though-

“Iruka-sensei! Naruto is talking to himself again!”

It was lucky Naruto wasn’t carrying any weapons, or Natsuko might have been in some serious danger. Instead all he did was jump high, dropping the mop to the floor as his head whipped towards the small child standing in the doorway.

“Holy ramen, you scared me!” he scolded her, but she stuck her tongue out at him. “And I wasn’t talking to myself!”

“Were you talking to the ghost?”

“Th- _the_ ghost?” Naruto stuttered, his eyes widening to match hers.

She nodded sagely, scrunching her face up in what was probably supposed to look secretive, spying around the kitchen.

“Iruka-sensei says there isn’t one but I’ve talked to it.”

Naruto felt a chill run down his spine, then shook himself out of it. He couldn’t go around getting frightened by some four-year-old talking about ghosts! What would Sasuke say!

_Depends, is this hypothetical scenario before or after you confess?_

Another angry blush made its way across Naruto’s cheeks, and he was just about to curse the demon fox out when he remembered little Natsuko.

“I wasn’t talking to a ghost,” he said stiffly, picking the mop up from the floor.

“Then who were you talking to?”

While he’d been occupied with Kurama and the mop, she’d climbed the fridge and now sat dangling her feet contentedly while staring down at him.

“I was talking to Kurama, and you know you can’t be up there.”

“I don’t see a Kurama!”

“That’s because he lives inside my stomach.”

Natsuko’s little mouth formed an ‘o’, her ginger hair sticking out from her head in a perfect mess.

“Sensei!” she called, pulling her feet up when Naruto lunged for her. “Naruto has a Kurama living in his tummy! I want one too!”

“No you don’t,” Naruto muttered, heaving himself up on the counter with a knee and grabbing the struggling child.

 _Rude_ , Kurama sniffed, and Naruto hoped this meant he’d be quiet for a while.

“Noo, I don’t wanna be on the floor!” she wailed as he put her down, right in time for Iruka to make an entrance.

“Natsuko, don’t bother Naruto when he’s cleaning,” he sighed, carrying Daisuke under one arm and holding a hairbrush. “Come on, we haven’t finished with your hair.”

Immediately, Natsuko stopped struggling against Naruto’s hold and instead clung to him.

“I want Naruto to do it!”

Clearing his throat, Naruto was torn between shaking her off and picking her up. She was clinging pretty hard to him, possibly hard enough to leave bruises on his poor arm.

“Do you mind?” Iruka asked him, and he shook his head quickly. “Alright then, try to get her to sit still long enough to get rid of the knots at least. I don’t know how she manages.”

“Sure thing.”

Iruka smiled, hoisting Daisuke a little higher up as he left the brush on the table, making his exit. Once he was gone, Naruto glanced at the kid hanging from his arm.

“What’s a Kurama?” she asked, brown eyes curious as he lifted her to sit on the table next to the brush. “It’s not a ghost, so what is it?”

She was wriggling again, her small feet kicking Naruto’s thighs as he lifted the brush to her hair.

“He’s a fox,” he replied, combing through her hair for all of two centimeters before it caught on a knot.

“Owwie,” she complained, ducking her head to escape. “He’s _just_ a fox?”

 _Let me talk to her,_ Kurama muttered, and Naruto didn’t need to see him to know his tails were swishing in annoyance.

“He’s a really big fox, and he’s really strong,” he continued, ignoring the fox in question and using his fingers instead to work on the knots.

 _Just a fox my ass_.

Naruto shook his head, wondering which one of them was the real four-year-old. He spent a good half hour with Natsuko and her hair, entertaining her with stories (some made up, some not) about Kurama and several of the frogs he’d gotten to know at Mount Myoboku. Kurama was growing increasingly grumpy, but Naruto figured it was appropriate payback for the past few days of nothing but whining about how he lacked guts (and a few other themes Naruto didn’t want to think about with children present).

The rest of the day passed by quickly, and before he was ready it was already time to go meet up with Sasuke at the police headquarters. The funny feeling in his stomach had returned, his palms sweating a little as he neared the building. It was stupid, because it wasn’t as if anything had changed, not for him and not between them, but still. Apparently realizing he liked guys and knowing Sasuke didn’t mind was enough to mess with his body control.

Sasuke was waiting for him, leaning against a pillar with crossed arms, looking every bit as handsome as Naruto remembered him to be. Wetting his lips nervously, Naruto forced a grin when the other ninja noticed him.

“You’re late,” Sasuke commented, looking at a spot somewhere above his left shoulder.

“Am not,” Naruto replied.

And then, nothing. No arguing, no easy rambling leaving his mouth. Just silence wrapping around them both.

Weighing on his heels, Naruto couldn’t remember ever feeling this tongue-tied. What the hell? It was just Sasuke! Sure, things had been a little weird yesterday after the whole forehead protector thingy, but it hadn’t been like this in the morning. Neither he nor Sasuke was wearing one now, but he suspected Sasuke had brought his to work and worn it while on duty.

“So um, should we go?” he forced out, relieved when Sasuke glanced at him and then nodded.

He tried his best to search Sasuke’s face without being obvious about it, wondering why he looked even more stoic than usual. Almost as if he was deliberately keeping his expression emotionless. It was unnerving. Not that Sasuke was a very expressive person, but that didn’t mean he never showed emotion. In fact, he was a lot more expressive than many of their friends at home seemed to think. Especially lately, what with all the stuff happening. To see a look resembling the one he’d worn while working with Orochimaru was…

“Sasuke, are you-“

He bit his lip, knowing how much Sasuke hated being asked and how often Naruto couldn’t help himself anyway. Instead of showing annoyance, however, Sasuke merely stiffened a little more around the shoulders.

Okay, something was up and Naruto wanted to know. _Needed_ to know.

“How was work?”

Sasuke shrugged, but there was a tightening to his lips that Naruto didn’t like seeing. Normally he would keep poking until Sasuke either told him or they started to fight, but something about the troubled look in Sasuke’s eyes held him back. He seemed too preoccupied with his own thoughts to even notice Naruto staring at him, walking with long, determined strides towards his parents’ house.

So Naruto stayed silent, frowning at the ground for most of the way.

Upon reaching the house they discovered Shisui and Itachi at home, lounging in the living room.

“Yo!” Shisui greeted them with a salute, grinning at them from his position on the couch, spread out with his head in Itachi’s lap.

Now that Naruto knew they were together he couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed at how unashamed they were. They had been even worse at last night’s dinner, exchanging lovey-dovey words and sneaking kisses, all while Naruto tried to pretend he couldn’t see anything at all and wondering why no one else seemed bothered. Though he’d caught Charasuke glaring at them now and then, for whatever reason.

“There’s some tea in the pot, if you’d like,” Itachi informed them, distractedly threading his fingers through Shisui’s curls while he talked. “It should still be warm.”

“Alright,” Sasuke replied quietly, heading for the kitchen and leaving Naruto wondering if he should follow or not.

“I see that you also survived the night,” Itachi remarked with an amused smile, ignoring Shisui’s indignant protest.

“Haha, yeah I guess. It wasn’t that bad, honestly!”

Itachi raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but Shisui smacked his leg and nodded eagerly.

“See? I _told_ you it was edible! And I don’t see why you’re even complaining, you ate the whole thing!”

“Sure, but only because I love you so much.”

First Shisui looked pleased with that answer, but then a suspicious look crossed his face.

“Why are you making that sound like a bad thing?”

“What, aren’t you happy knowing I love you so much I’d give my life for you?”

“You little shit!” Shisui yelled, turning around and crawling onto Itachi’s lap.

Naruto took it as his cue to leave.

He found Sasuke pouring tea in a pretty teacup, the delicate pattern of flowers making it look handmade. When Sasuke held it out for him he accepted it in slight surprise, trudging after him when he lifted his own and headed for the kitchen door.

Today was rather cold, the sun hanging low in the sky. They stopped by the small pond, staring down at the koi fish swimming around without a care in the world. Some were bright orange, some speckled in white and black, all shimmering in the sunlight.

“Do you think,” Sasuke started, holding his cup in both hands close to his chest. “That there are only good and bad people here?”

“What do you mean?” Naruto asked after a small pause, wondering if this was what had been troubling Sasuke on the way here.

“If they are only good or bad. Or,” he licked his lips, staring intently into the water, “if there are people here too that do things because they see no other choice.”

Something in Naruto’s chest clenched, squeezing his lungs until he could barely draw in air.

“Sasuke…”

“I’m not talking about myself,” Sasuke clarified, furrowing his brows. “But how would you know?”

When Naruto didn’t reply, Sasuke raised his eyes to look at him.

“I just thought this place wouldn’t judge people as quickly. At least they don’t execute them.”

“Konoha doesn’t really…”

“Oh please, Konoha does whatever it feels like depending on who’s in charge. Just because you don’t know about it doesn’t mean it never happens.”

“Well, I’d never let that happen at least.”

“No?” Sasuke’s gaze was boring into him, tired rather than angry. “What if everyone told you that you had to? What if everyone else wanted someone to die?”

“Sasuke.” Naruto’s chest was hurting now, but his expression hardened in resolution. “I’m not going to be that kind of Hokage.”

“And the Hokage succeeding you?”

Frustrated with Sasuke’s questioning, Naruto threw his hands out to his sides, spilling some of his tea.

“How would I know? I’ll just have to pick someone who wouldn’t.”

Sasuke kept staring at him, and considering Naruto usually didn’t like it when Sasuke wouldn’t look at him he was feeling strangely uncomfortable now.

“You’ll pick someone,” Sasuke repeated slowly. “Like how the Second picked Sarutobi before he died, which in turn made Danzo work from the shadows in order to take over. It might have been Danzo’s plan, but the Third certainly didn’t put up a fight when Itachi was ordered to kill our clan.”

Opening and closing his mouth, no sound coming out, Naruto wondered where this came from all of a sudden. He knew what had happened, and Sasuke knew that Naruto had understood the truth now and wasn’t defending or excusing any of it.

“And what am I supposed to do about that?” he asked finally, heart beating fast and fists clenched.

“I don’t know.”

Naruto gaped at Sasuke, but he’d averted his eyes again towards the pond.

“I don’t know and it bothers me.”

Sasuke crossed his arms, hugging himself as a shadow passed over his face. His gorgeous, wonderful face and Naruto _hated_ feeling so helpless.

“But all day I’ve been thinking about it, and all these goddamned _emotions_ ,” he spat the last word, fingers tightening around the arm closest to Naruto. “They’re not helping. I feel like crawling out of my skin.”

Raising his hand, Naruto ran his fingers lightly down Sasuke’s covered neck. He felt like he could cry, just from seeing him like this. Sasuke was so tense underneath his touch, his breathing shallow and quick.

“Is it really that bad?” he asked quietly, letting his fingers run back up to gently thread through the little hairs at the base of Sasuke’s skull. “To feel?”

Sasuke slowly tilted his head to meet his gaze, looking at him like he just asked the stupidest question he’d ever heard. He didn’t move to push Naruto’s hand away though, letting him run little circles into his skin.

“Did you seriously just ask me that?”

Naruto blushed angrily, averting his eyes to stare at his own hand instead. His thumb was getting adventurous, brushing over Sasuke’s pulse point. Swallowing with slight difficulty, he bit his bottom lip and shrugged.

“You’re the one who started talking about it,” he mumbled.

“Well,” Sasuke snorted, no humor in his voice. “We can’t all be like you.”

“What do you mean?” Naruto frowned, raising his eyes again.

It was Sasuke’s turn to look away, an unhappy expression on his face as he sighed. Even so he relaxed a little, arms still crossed but shoulders slumped.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Naruto pressed his thumb into the skin behind Sasuke’s ear, turning his head so they were face to face.

“It matters,” he disagreed, holding Sasuke’s gaze. “Everything you say matters. To me.”

Sasuke looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or scoff at him, settling for shaking his head with a roll of eyes.

“What, you don’t think it does? _Sasuke_.”

Steadying Sasuke’s face again, Naruto cupped his cheek and forced him to meet his eyes properly. His heart was pounding, throat constricting at the sight of Sasuke so clearly holding back whatever emotions plagued him. He waited for him to speak, but his lips were drawn in a thin line and his body had tensed up again.

“Sasuke,” he added, softer this time. “It’s alright to feel. You don’t need to hide it.”

He could see the conflict in those dark eyes, the struggle not to let anything even remotely close to weakness show. Stepping closer, feeling Sasuke’s warmth through the slight chill in the air, he ran the back of his fingers over Sasuke’s cheekbone. It was his left hand, the one without bandages, pale skin smooth underneath his touch. Sasuke’s arms brushed against his chest, and he could hear the sharp little intake of breath his best friend made when their foreheads connected.

“Naruto, I-“

“Oooi! You two!”

Naruto jumped several meters backwards, ending up in the middle of the pond with a huge splash. Gaping wide in shock, he and Sasuke simply stared at each other for all of two seconds before Shisui’s hysterical laughter filled the air. Clothes soaked and water up to his neck, Naruto sat in the pond wondering what had just happened and why his heart was beating so fast he thought it would burst out his chest.

Oh, and there had been a second there when he contemplated sending a Rasenshuriken spinning in Shisui’s direction.

“Oh man, Itachi come and watch this!” Shisui called into the house, holding his stomach and barely able to stand straight.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto got up on his feet, dripping water. He’d _just_ cleaned his jumpsuit and this had to happen! Pulling down the zipper to his jacket he started wading towards the edge of the pond, taking it off and wringing out the water before angrily throwing it on dry ground. Then he pulled his t-shirt off, using the time spent twisting it to calm down. From the corner of his eye he could see Itachi join Shisui in the doorway, and then, lo and behold, Charasuke came peeking too. Just great.

“Dobe, how long are you going to stand there?”

Huffing, Naruto accepted the outstretched hand Sasuke offered him, climbing out of the pond with a wet splosh. His pants were so soggy, clinging to his legs, but at least he wasn’t wearing shoes. Unbuttoning the pants he let them fall down to the ground, cringing at the nasty wet sound they made on impact.

“Goddammit,” he muttered, stepping out of them. “Now I have to clean it _again_.”

“Maybe this is nature’s way of telling you to wear something less atrocious,” Sasuke commented, and Naruto sent him a dirty look.

“You can borrow some clothes from me,” Charasuke said, for some reason having walked over to join them.

“Oh no! You stay back!” Naruto shouted, holding his hands out in case he needed to push him away.

“Tch, you’re so rude,” Charasuke huffed, but dutifully stayed a couple steps away.

Didn’t mean he wasn’t _looking_ , though.

_See, he agrees with me._

Groaning, Naruto kicked at his sad pile of wet clothes. What did he do to deserve all this shit?!

xxx

Turns out that what Shisui wanted was to make them watch a movie that Charasuke had been sent out to buy. Since the oldest Uchiha present refused to take no for an answer, all of them were gathered on the couch with the exception of Naruto who’d been sent off to dry up and change. Charasuke had (while lying through his teeth, Sasuke had seen his wardrobe after all) handed Naruto a pair of slim-fit tights and a tank top, saying they were the only clean clothes he had.

Sasuke would have fetched something less revealing for him, but the look of despair on Naruto’s face was too funny. Besides, somehow, the result wasn’t too bad. You could see every muscle outlined in detail, and while Sasuke had seen Naruto naked before, he’d never really thought of his body much. If anything, he was surprised over just _how_ well defined his muscles were. He in no way had a thick build, being more on the lean side like Sasuke, but seeing him dressed in all black made Sasuke realize how much he’d actually grown the past year. It wasn’t just his hair, to put it shortly.

“I feel like Lee,” Naruto muttered, standing indecisive next to the couch after having changed.

“You certainly don’t _look_ like Lee,” Shisui grinned, Charasuke nodding eagerly.

Letting out a dismayed sound, Naruto snatched a pillow from the couch, throwing it on the floor in front of Sasuke’s legs and promptly sitting down on it.

“ _And_ it’s cold,” he complained, squirming a bit.

Sasuke could see faint goose bumps forming on Naruto’s arms, frowning when Naruto settled in between his legs, pressing the insides of his calves against his sides.

“What am I, your blanket?” he asked irritably, trying to pretend that Naruto didn’t feel warm and cozy against him, especially with his cheek leaning against his left knee.

“I wouldn’t mind being your blanket,” Charasuke teased, earning a filthy look from Naruto before he scooted a little away from him, bringing Sasuke’s legs with him.

“Alright, alright, let’s start the movie,” Shisui laughed.

Naruto sent him a look, too, probably because he and Itachi were taking up most of the space and forcing him to sit on the floor. There was a bowl of wasabi peas on the small table over on Shisui and Itachi’s end, and Naruto crawled over to grab a handful. Sasuke didn’t miss the way his back muscles bunched with the movement, and neither did Charasuke apparently.

So he kicked him.

“What the-!” Charasuke pouted at him, rubbing the now sore spot on his ankle with his other foot.

“Huh?” Naruto asked, sliding back between Sasuke’s legs and stuffing his mouth full of peas.

“Nothing,” Sasuke replied, sinking lower into the pillows.

And it _should_ be nothing, so he decided to ignore it. Otherwise he’d have to think about the moment over by the pond, and he’d rather not. Besides, he’d been feeling like shit the whole day, and it was much easier to just concentrate on that instead of involving a whole different set of emotions as well.

“Shh,” Itachi hushed them, motioning towards the TV screen with his hand.

The movie was just starting, showing a scenery with a setting sun, closing in on a lonely house where some family looking like they were on vacation were busy unpacking the small boat they’d used to get there.

“What’s it about?” Naruto asked, his attention now on the people on screen entering the dusty old house.

“You’ll see,” Shisui told him, “No talking or Itachi will throw you out.”

For another minute or so the family kept bustling about, until they were all heading to bed. Sasuke couldn’t say it looked very promising, preferring to zone out instead. He glanced at Itachi, who pretty much had Shisui cuddled into his chest against the high arm rest of the couch (their legs on the couch as well, thus blocking Naruto’s seat). Shisui was playing with Itachi’s long, loose hair, face nestled against his shoulder, and Itachi seemed very content to hug him close and kiss the top of his head now and then.

When Itachi’s eyes flickered towards him he turned back to the screen, fidgeting a bit in his seat. Naruto was leaning his face against the inside of his knee again, having gotten himself more peas to chew on. He wondered if they looked anything like Itachi and Shisui, and if that was why people kept mistaking them for a couple. Because in that case, all those misunderstandings were clearly Naruto’s fault.

In fact, today at work Fugaku had asked if he’d talked to Naruto about the upcoming mission, implying that he had something to say about it that wasn’t only stemming from the fact that they were stuck in this world together.

Sasuke had lied and said it would be fine. Of course, he knew that Naruto wouldn’t like the idea. He would probably cause a big fuss, which was why Sasuke didn’t plan on telling him until the day before. Staying quiet wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it would be, however, and he wondered when he’d gotten so used to discuss things with Naruto. In fact, he wondered when the last time he’d been separated more than twelve hours from Naruto had been. Before the war, probably.

It shouldn’t bother him but it did. He could only imagine Naruto’s worried eyes haunting him the whole way, just like they’d haunted him in last night’s dreams. It was just a mission, there was no need to over think it.

Except it was a mission to catch a missing nin, a detail he _clearly_ couldn’t let Naruto know. He doubted Fugaku would have asked him had he known his background, which seemed to indicate that A; Tsunade hadn’t told anyone outside the interrogation room, and B; Fugaku hadn’t asked her first if he could bring him on a mission.

Maybe he wouldn’t even be allowed to go, in the end. Maybe-

A high-pitched shriek rang through the room, and all of a sudden Sasuke had an armful of trembling dobe clinging to him.

“No no nooo,” Naruto whined into his neck, and Sasuke turned to the other three in order to find out what had happened.

“Is Naruto, uh, afraid of ghosts?” Charasuke asked, holding a hand in front of his mouth and trying not to laugh.

“Ghosts?” Sasuke repeated, frowning when the other three nodded towards the TV. “Ah.”

While Sasuke had been occupied with his thoughts, the family had apparently discovered they’d moved into a haunted house. There were doors slamming at random, rattling chains, and cliché spooky music accompanying it all.

Great. Naruto wasn’t going to sleep _at all_ tonight.

“Oh come on, it’s not even a horror movie, just a parody!” Shisui grinned, but Naruto had his hands clamped down over his ears and wouldn’t stop chanting that he wasn’t listening.

“I doubt it makes a difference to him,” Sasuke sighed, accepting his fate as a human pillow for the remainder of the movie.

“Is it over yet?” Naruto whimpered, squirming and trying to look at the TV without actually looking.

“It’s a parody,” Sasuke informed him, wondering how things would have gone if Naruto’s enemies had found out about his fear of ghosts.

He would have been fucked, most likely.

“So the ghost is coming back?!”

“Not what I said, but-“

“Oh look Naruto, it’s all fine now!” Shisui said, resulting in Naruto opening his eyes properly just as the little sister of the family peeked out from underneath the covers of her bed and came eye to eye with what was clearly a person dressed in a sheet.

“AAAAHHHHHH!” Naruto yelled, diving behind Sasuke and trying to hide between his back and the couch. “You lied! Asshole! I’ll never trust you again!”

Shisui was snickering openly, Charasuke rolling his eyes.

“You’re the one being fooled too easily,” Charasuke muttered, folding his legs up against his chest and hugging them. “That was just the dad in the family caught in a bed sheet.”

 “Really?” Naruto sounded suspicious, but he did release the death grip he had on Sasuke’s shoulders. “So there are no real ghosts in it?”

“Ghosts aren’t real, moron.”

Naruto punched his shoulder blade, a rather impressing feat considering he was squeezed against it.

“They’re real in the movie!”

“Whatever, can I get my seat back now?”

Embarrassed, Naruto moved from behind him, instead squeezing himself in between Sasuke’s side and the arm rest.

“Gah, you can’t sit there, there’s no space!” Charasuke complained, forced to scoot towards Shisui and Itachi.

“I’ll sit where I want,” Naruto pouted, though he didn’t precisely look comfortable. “Why can’t Shisui move his legs.”

“Hell no, I’m too comfortable like this. Just sit in Sasuke’s lap or something.”

“ _What_?!” Naruto squawked, balling his fists and leaning forwards threateningly.

“Just shut up,” Sasuke huffed, tired of their antics, grabbing Naruto’s legs and pulling them so that he sat much like Shisui, back against the armrest but with his ass between it and Sasuke’s thigh. “If you don’t want to watch the movie we can go somewhere else.”

“Hmph, I’ll watch it,” Naruto disagreed, but flinched at another glimpse of fluttering white on the screen.

He moved around a little to make himself comfortable, knees leaning on Sasuke’s chest and cheek resting on the back of the couch next to Sasuke’s shoulder. That way he could easily curl up during the scary parts and hide his face in Sasuke’s neck, something he did so often that Sasuke started wondering why he bothered unfolding himself at all.

About twenty minutes into the movie, Naruto had caught his arm in a tight grip, relaxing it now and then during the less scary parts only to kill the blood flow whenever another so called ghost appeared. At some point his right hand switched to hold Sasuke’s, pressing it against his chest. The only reason he didn’t say anything about it was because he didn’t want the others to notice it.

Once the movie ended, Naruto released a relieved sigh, curled up in his lap even as Shisui switched to some child friendly drama show on one of the regular TV channels.

“That was exhausting,” he muttered, still holding Sasuke’s arm and hand at an awkward angle.

“At least you won’t have bruises all over,” Sasuke muttered back, scoffing when Naruto grinned innocently at him.

In his opinion, the movie had been incredibly boring. Not to mention he was hungry.

“Haah, I’m getting hungry,” Naruto announced as if reading his thoughts, letting go of him and stretching his hands up in the air with a yawn.

His very much bare hands.

Sasuke froze, staring up at Naruto’s right hand where no white bandage could be seen wrapped around it.

“Hey!” Naruto protested when Sasuke tugged his arm down, gripping his hand much like Naruto had done to him before and turning his palm upwards. “Sasuke, what are you-“

Then he sucked in a breath, fingers stiffening in Sasuke’s hold.

“Hmm? What?” Charasuke asked, leaning over to look. “Oh, is that a tattoo? Is that why you kept it bandaged?”

Sasuke supposed that Naruto hadn’t bothered with a dry bandage after his little bath, of course forgetting he wasn’t supposed to touch people with his palm.

“Umm, I didn’t, did I?”

They shared a look, but before Sasuke could reply, Charasuke had reached forward to poke at the hollow circle in Naruto’s palm.

“Does it have some kind of meaning or something?” he asked, both Itachi and Shisui seeming interested as well.

Staring at the astonishment on Naruto’s face, Sasuke waited for it to dawn on him. Apparently, now that Naruto couldn’t access his sage powers, the mark in his hand was just that, a mark.

“It’s, uh.” Naruto fumbled for words, but Itachi was faster.

“That’s a mark from the Sage of Six Paths, right?” he asked, leaning over to see better. “Something wrong with it?”

“I… no, not really.”

“Let me see!” Shisui elbowed Itachi out of the way, grabbing for Naruto’s hand to check it. “So this is how Hashirama’s mark looked, right? Do you have the same powers?”

“Depends on what powers he had,” Sasuke replied calmly in his stead. “But right now they don’t seem to work.”

“Yeah, Obito told me,” Itachi said. “Only yours do.”

During the exchange, Charasuke had been turning his head back and forth between them, eyes widening until he put his hands up towards them.

“Hold on,” he started, narrowing his eyes again. “What powers? Sage of the Six Paths? You’re joking, right?”

“Nope,” Shisui happily chirped. “Those tattoos they’ve got is proof they’ve received his powers.”

“The yin and yang marks,” Itachi helpfully provided. “The sun and moon.”

“Huh.” Charasuke stared with renewed interest at Naruto’s palm, processing the information. “You’re the sun?” he asked hesitantly, frowning in thought.

“Umm, I don’t really think that’s what it means,” Naruto replied, flustered from all the attention.

“Well, you’ve got the right hair color,” Shisui snickered, earning a light slap from Itachi.

“Is that why Sasuke said you’re stronger than him even though you used to suck?”

Charasuke had a dubious expression on his face, but Naruto was gaping at him.

“He said _what_?”

Sasuke heaved a sigh, staring at a wall. Why did people have to remember the stuff he said?

“Sasuke!”

“Slip of the tongue.”

“Why you-!”

“So what would the mark do if you could still use your powers? Considering you’ve got them covered up.”

It was Itachi interrupting them, appearing completely unfazed by his brother’s comments. Not so sure he wanted to share, Sasuke merely shrugged.

“Better safe than sorry,” was all he said, ignoring Naruto’s frown at his words.

Charasuke opened his mouth, but closed it again when noises could be heard from over by the front door.

“So this is where you’re all hiding, huh?” Mikoto asked as she entered the living room, closely followed by Fugaku. “Didn’t anyone think of starting dinner?”

All five of them jumped up from the couch, Itachi hurrying to relieve her of the grocery bags she carried and heading for the kitchen with a reluctant Charasuke in tow.

“Sorry about that,” Shisui smiled, heading for the kitchen as well but stopped by Mikoto’s arm.

“You, young man, are banned from cooking for the time being. Go be useful and clean the upper floor bathroom instead. You’re much too old to be freeloading!”

Shisui grimaced, shoulders slumping, but obediently dragged his feet towards the stairs.

“Anything we should do?” Naruto asked, scratching his neck a little awkwardly.

“Oh no, you two sweethearts just take it easy.” She smiled at them, then seemed to notice what Naruto was wearing. “And why aren’t you wearing something warmer?”

“He fell in the pond!” Shisui helpfully called from the hallway, making another grimace when Mikoto shooed at him to keep going.

“Ah, haha, it was an accident, sorry.” Naruto apologized, but Mikoto put her hands to her sides and shook her head.

“All the more reason for you to wear something warm! The water must have been freezing, be careful so you don’t get a cold!”

“I’ll find him something better,” Sasuke promised, and satisfied with that Mikoto nodded and headed for the kitchen as well.

“She’s really nice,” Naruto mumbled, weighing on his heels.

“Yeah.”

“Too bad you only take after her in looks.”

Needless to say, there was a rather big commotion as everyone came running at the sound of Sasuke’s chidori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, emotions, such a formidable enemy. I smell a loss for Sasuke in the near future. It's probably for the best he can't hear what Kurama's saying, right? Both he and Naruto have such a way with words. Also don't joke about Sasuke's dead mother if you're not Naruto. You'll die. :D


	28. Ignition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've enabled anonymous commenting for this chapter bc I'll feel bad otherwise. I disabled it so I wouldn't have to read another hateful one but oh well, that anon hater got crafty and just picked another story anyway. Please send me love to make up for it<3
> 
> As for the chapter... I want to thank all of you for being so patient with me. This story sure has been a slow burn, hasn't it? But it's time to get your party poppers ready! And it's not even Valentine's day yet! 
> 
> We're also celebrating the fact that this story has now breached 1,000 kudos! Thank you so much for your support!!! <33
> 
> *rubs hands* I have no idea how you're going to react to this but I am looking forward to finding out.

Things calmed down once Naruto assured everyone that this sort of thing was pretty common between them, and there was no need to worry. Sasuke even apologized for it, though only after Naruto had elbowed him a few times. Luckily the chidori had been a tiny one so the floor and couch hadn’t suffered any burn marks.

“You know, maybe if you had a better sense of humor I wouldn’t have to fear for my health every time I cracked a joke,” he grumbled as they stood in Charasuke’s room, Sasuke digging through his closet.

Sasuke only tsk’ed, not that Naruto had expected an actual answer. Besides, with Sasuke’s back turned towards him he could stare at him as much as he liked. And now that he’d actually admitted to himself how much he liked it, well, it was like he couldn’t stop himself even if he wanted to. Cuddling Sasuke during the movie had been awesome, even if the movie itself was absolute crap.

“Does this guy have nothing but thin shirts or tank tops?” Sasuke muttered to himself, crouching down so he could search the lowest shelf.

“At least he could have given me a shirt!” Naruto complained, trying not to think of just how snugly the tights fit over his crotch and ass.

These sorts of pants should be illegal! Sure, it was comfortable, and it allowed him to more easily leech off Sasuke’s body heat, but it _was_ a bit cold with evening approaching.

“Hm, maybe this one…” Sasuke pulled out something soft and knitted, colored a dark red. “Try it.”

Naruto eyed the sweater with suspicion. He wasn’t exactly enjoying wearing Charasuke the _pervert’s_ clothes, but he supposed it looked innocent enough. Taking a moment to figure out which way was what, he pulled it over his head, happy to notice it was big enough to reach halfway down his thighs.

“I guess it fits,” he said a little hesitantly, trying to adjust it over his shoulders so it didn’t hang off one side.

The sleeves were short enough not to cover his hands, but he wondered if the collar really needed to be shaped like a V, showing part of the tank top. The color was the worst part, though. Red? _Really_?

Looking up, he noticed Sasuke had a rather funny expression on his face.

“What?” he asked, pouting. “You’re the one who told me to try it.”

There was a small Uchiha emblem embroidered onto the left part of his chest, the bright red of it clashing with the sweater’s darker color. Seriously, what was up with this clan and putting their symbol on absolutely everything!? He’d even checked the pants to make sure there wouldn’t be one across his ass, or something ridiculous like that.

“…better than your jumpsuit at least.”

“ _What?!_ And when are you gonna stop hating on my clothes!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Naruto felt like smacking him. Also like kissing him. But mostly smacking.

“Here, take these too.”

Naruto caught the thick pair of socks Sasuke threw it at him, torn between blushing and glaring.

“I’m not going to get a cold,” he muttered, but didn’t bother putting up a fight.

Instead he dragged his feet over to the bed and sat down, pulling the socks on and wiggling his toes once he was done. He couldn’t deny that they were cozy.

He wished Sasuke would come sit next to him, so he could lean on his shoulder. Just for a minute. Just so he could smell _him_ and not Charasuke’s cologne.

“I guess he keeps his winter clothes stored away,” Sasuke mused, shutting the closet before turning towards Naruto, hands slipping down into his pockets. “Ready?”

Naruto wanted to say no. _I need a hug first_ , he wanted to say. Anything to reassure him that Sasuke wasn’t annoyed with him, wasn’t thinking about their conversation by the pond. He wanted to know what Sasuke had been about to say. He wanted Sasuke to kiss him. He wanted-

He took a deep breath, staring down at his now sock-clad feet. He really liked it when Sasuke cared about him, even if it was something as small as giving him socks when the sweater would have been enough. Rubbing his toes together, he swallowed against the thickness in his throat. When no one else was there to distract him, he couldn’t push these thoughts away. Work had been difficult because he’d kept fretting over the past few days, to the point where even Kurama got tired of it.

Maybe all the tension and lack of sleep was finally catching up to him, because the thought of going back downstairs and having to act all happy was incredibly unappealing.

“Maybe I’ll take a nap before dinner,” he said in a quiet voice, keeping his eyes fixed on his toes.

“…alright,” Sasuke replied after a short pause, though not moving from his spot.

He wished Sasuke would stay with him, wished he’d ask if he wanted company. But Sasuke didn’t ask, and Naruto didn’t either.

“Just tell me when dinner’s ready, okay?”

He pulled his legs up and scooted further up the bed, not caring that Charasuke had probably done lots of perverted things in it and he shouldn’t want to sleep in it. Or maybe he cared a little now that he thought about it, but Sasuke wasn’t going to agree to any of that anyway so he might as well just cry.

 _You’re being dramatic_ , Kurama chastised him as he slipped underneath the covers.

 _I can sulk if I want to_.

_You don’t even have a reason to!_

_Who says I need one!_

Burying his face in a pillow, Naruto listened to Sasuke’s soft footsteps as he left the room, closing the door behind him. This was good. Now Sasuke had a chance at bonding with his family without Naruto there to distract him.

_Are you even listening to yourself?_

_Just leave me alone_.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he curled into a ball and tried to force his body to sleep.

It didn’t take more than ten seconds.

xxx

Sasuke shut the door behind him and turned around, finding Shisui staring at him with a bucket full of cleaning utensils in one hand.

“Everything alright?”

“Naruto’s taking a nap,” he explained, frowning a little.

He wasn’t entirely sure where Naruto’s sudden mood swing had come from, and unsure of what to do had decided to simply leave him be and hope he was just tired.

“I hope he isn’t getting sick,” Shisui grimaced, and Sasuke shook his head.

“He never gets sick.”

“Oh, okay then. Wanna help me clean the bathroom?”

Shisui held the bucket in front of him, a hopeful grin on his face. Shrugging in agreement Sasuke followed after him, figuring he might as well. Maybe his cousin’s cheerful personality would distract him from the feeling that something was wrong with Naruto and it was all his fault.

“Aah, I’d almost forgotten how stern Mikoto is,” Shisui sighed, handing Sasuke a sponge to use for the bathtub while putting himself in charge of the sink and cupboard. “Cleaning is the _worst_.”

Rolling up his bandage, Sasuke only hummed in response. Personally he didn’t mind cleaning so much. Not now, at least. Back when he still lived in his old house he’d always kept things as clean as he could, mostly out of respect for his dead mother.

“Ooh, hey, since you’re taking it off anyway, can I see the mark?”

Shisui was leaning over his shoulder, and Sasuke only hesitated a moment before opening his palm.

“Hmm. It looks so innocent. I always expected something flashier when I heard the stories.”

“It’s annoying enough like this,” he muttered as he turned on the tap to soak the sponge.

“Ha, sure. So what’s up with Naruto and ghosts, huh?”

“He’s an idiot, that’s all.”

Shisui laughed at that, but didn’t ask any follow-up questions. Instead he hummed a tune Sasuke didn’t recognize, though he could instantly tell it was one of those annoying ones that got stuck in your brain for days. Busying himself with scrubbing he tried to clear his thoughts, but Naruto’s face wouldn’t stop hovering in front of his eyes.

He should probably tell him about the mission, but he just _knew_ that Naruto would get upset, and his stomach churned at the thought. In fact, just remembering Naruto’s downcast expression as he announced his nap was enough to make Sasuke gnaw on his lips. It was as if everything he did made Naruto sad or upset, and it shouldn’t be like that. And even so, Naruto kept sticking by him.

Letting out a sigh he rinsed the sponge, then poured some more soap into the tub and continued his work.

He knew that he was feeling things much more strongly now, or rather, there were certain emotions he could feel accurately now. At some point he knew he’d have to actually deal with them, but it was so much safer to just push them away and ignore them. He just couldn’t help feeling that this point was coming up a lot faster than he wanted to.

Especially since his initial reaction to Naruto crawling into bed had been to follow him.

“So, Obito told me and Itachi the whole story,” Shisui said, his tone so conversational that it took Sasuke a few seconds to realize what he’d said. “He hasn’t told the others though.”

Sasuke had frozen, fingers clenching around the sponge. He should have realized from their talk on the couch.

“Really,” he replied, keeping his voice void of emotion.

“I just figured you should know.”

When he glanced over at Shisui he found the other man cleaning calmly, tongue caught between his teeth as he worked on a stubborn spot of dirt. Was that it? No reaction?

“Also you’ve got clearance for that mission, but between you and me, I think Tsunade just wants to assess you. She’s a lot more calculating than she looks.” He leaned back, satisfied with his work apparently. “Then again, she’s the Hokage for a reason.”

He turned, meeting Sasuke’s gaze. Through his calm, Sasuke could tell he was concerned.

“I’m going to assume you haven’t said anything to Naruto yet. He seems the type to demand coming with.”

Lips twitching, Sasuke averted his eyes.

“What are you, a mind reader?”

“No. But, uh, I’ve learnt from personal experience that your boyfriend gets a lot less upset if you let him know things in advance.”

Sasuke said nothing. His stomach was churning again, breaths turning shallow. Naruto would get angry, of course. He’d demand to come with, or beg Sasuke not to go.

Or worse, he’d pretend it was all fine.

“Are you sure you want to go? I mean, considering the mission details…”

Sucking in a slow breath, Sasuke resumed his scrubbing.

“It’s fine.” _I’m not weak._

He could tell Shisui was frowning at him, hesitant to keep prying.

“I’ll talk to him.”

“Hm,” was all Shisui said, dissatisfied but letting it go for now.

The remaining time they cleaned in silence, only commenting on their progress. Once they were done, Shisui gathered everything up and gave him a quick smile, saying he’d go ahead.

Which left Sasuke with no other choice than to return to Charasuke’s room.

He hesitated outside the door for a long moment, struggling with the fact that his breathing wouldn’t calm down, his hand gripping the door handle too tight. Inhaling deeply, he leaned his forehead against the door, closing his eyes. He shouldn’t be feeling like this. It shouldn’t be this hard.

But he did and it was, and no matter how desperately he tried to shake it off he couldn’t escape the feeling of anxiousness that crawled through his body.

It wasn’t _just_ telling him about the mission. He should apologize for earlier, he should explain, should let Naruto know that no matter how he felt about the mission he wouldn’t go if Naruto thought it was a bad idea.

He rubbed the middle of his chest, feeling a tight sort of pain in there. Even if he should, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to. It was… difficult. If he stopped to actually think about things instead of ignore them, he’d realize how big of a mess he was and how badly he was dealing with his emotions right now.

 _You’d think it would have been harder back then,_ he thought bitterly to himself. Then again, he hadn’t been himself, not entirely. Not during his darkest moments, at least. Did Naruto understand that? That Sasuke hadn’t wanted to hurt him, hadn’t wanted to-

He sucked in a breath through his teeth, pushing the door open before he changed his mind.

Naruto was still tucked into bed, breathing softly. Sasuke’s willpower almost failed him right then and there, eyes running over his sleeping form. His knees felt weak. His head filled with cotton. _Why._

_Why did Naruto even think he was worth it?_

Walking slowly, he made his way over to the bed and sat down on the edge. Naruto was lying on his left side, one arm underneath the pillow, the other pulling the covers close to his chest. His lips were downturned, as if he dreamt of something unpleasant. Sasuke hoped that it was only a silly dream about the world running out of its ramen supply.

Chances were it wasn’t, however, because soon Naruto let out a small whimper and curled in on himself, burying his face in the pillow. It was only a couple of seconds before Sasuke found himself on his side as well, adjusting his body so that Naruto was curled against him instead. The problem with finding a good position for his right arm was solved by Naruto’s subconscious movement, removing his left arm from underneath his pillow so he could settle both hands against Sasuke’s chest.

Letting out a shaky breath, Sasuke carefully maneuvered his arm underneath the pillow instead, pushing lightly at Naruto’s head so that it rested more comfortably. The end result was Naruto moving even closer, Sasuke’s arm folding around his shoulders in a half hug. He placed his cheek against the top of Naruto’s head, strands of hair tickling his nose.

Oh, this had been a bad idea. A _very_ bad idea. Despite knowing this, Sasuke couldn’t find it in himself to move. Or rather, the only part of his body that managed to move after that was his left hand, as it disregarded his commands completely in order to brush fingertips along Naruto’s jaw and cheek.

Naruto sighed in content, causing Sasuke’s chest to constrict painfully. He tried to swallow, but there was something thick lodged in his throat that wouldn’t let him. So he concentrated on breathing, slowly, in and out, doing his best to match Naruto’s pace.

He didn’t want to think, didn’t want to feel, because everything was _hurting_ all over and he shouldn’t be so selfish to hold Naruto like this, like he was the only one allowed to. He should just wake him up, tell him about the mission, and then head down for dinner. So why didn’t he?!

Somewhere along the way he had closed his eyes, and now he buried his nose in Naruto’s hair and inhaled, fingers combing through the soft locks. He was a selfish and terrible person, and Naruto deserved better. It was just that, Sasuke didn’t _want_ him to have better. The second part he had only realized earlier, upon seeing Naruto wearing the Uchiha clan symbol. It hadn’t felt _wrong_ to see him wearing it, in fact, Sasuke had felt a strong, almost frightening _urge_ to cover him in as many of them as possible.

It was stupid. Ridiculous, even. And he doubted he would have felt that way if they’d been back in their own dimension, but here, that clan symbol was linked with different things. Sasuke was still struggling with that concept but he wasn’t dumb, oh no. No matter how much he denied it, deep down he knew that his feelings regarding Naruto had always been different.

Naruto shifted slightly, pressed his face harder against Sasuke’s chest. He could feel his heartbeat quicken, tried swallowing around the lump in his throat again. His left hand was cupping Naruto’s neck, fingers running circles through the baby hairs at the base of his skull.

“Sasuke,” Naruto breathed softly, and he could feel his whole body become warm, nose filled with Naruto’s scent.

This was worse than bad. He should be controlling his emotions, reining them in like usual, ignore them like so many times before. He shouldn’t be trembling like this, or clinging to Naruto in desperation. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so helpless in his entire life.

“Sasuke…” Naruto whispered again, his right palm flattening against Sasuke’s chest and dragging upwards to cover his heart.

His limbs felt frozen, and yet his arms tightened around Naruto, left hand finding a better angle as it dipped underneath his sweater to caress heated skin. His heart slammed against his ribcage underneath Naruto’s palm, too loud, and he really should be pushing Naruto away now.

As if reading his thoughts, Naruto pressed himself closer to him, rubbing his nose and forehead against Sasuke’s chest. His breath hit Sasuke in warm puffs of air, moistening his shirt as their legs ended up tangled without Sasuke’s consent, the covers suddenly absent. Oh, he certainly should be pushing him away but he’d be blatantly lying to himself if he thought he could. He’d never managed to push Naruto away before, had never managed to truly let go of him, so why would he succeed now, with him safe and secure in his arms like this?

“I like you.”

The words tumbled out of Naruto’s mouth, spilled against his chest, so simple and quick but Sasuke’s whole world _tilted_.

Spun.

Crashed into place.

Exploded and then glued itself back together.

“I like you _so much_.”

There were dots dancing in front of his wide open eyes, and only when Naruto’s hand curled into a fist and hit his chest did he remember to breathe. He struggled to fill his lungs with air, feeling them burn, his heart too large to fit in his chest and leaving them no space.

It took him too many tries to find some semblance of control again, and by then the only coherent thought inside his brain was _he’s awake?!_ The rest of his thoughts were a jumbled mass of panic mixed with a little bit of everything. But mostly panic.

Opening his mouth, Sasuke’s words were cut off by Naruto pushing him onto his back.

“Don’t even _think_ about it,” Naruto growled, grabbing his wrists and holding them above his head. “You’re not getting out of this.”

Sasuke blinked up at him, speechless. How had Naruto known he was going to tell him that he was mistaken, that it wasn’t like that. That Sasuke couldn’t, _wouldn’t_ , take him seriously.

“I’ll decide for myself what I deserve and want,” he continued hoarsely, blue eyes seeming to darken as they bored into him. “And you…”

He faltered, face flushed, grip tightening around Sasuke’s wrists. Sasuke tried not to think of the fact that Naruto was straddling him, leaning over him to speak against his lips, heating Sasuke up from his toes all the way up to his fingertips.

“Sasuke, I can’t _believe_ you,” Naruto pleaded, face lowering so that the tips of their noses touched. “How long have you been feeling like this?”

Sasuke blinked. Opened his mouth. Closed it again.

“Wh-“ He swallowed, licked his dry lips and bit them.

What the _hell_ was Naruto on about?! Sasuke hadn’t said _anything,_ so unless Naruto could read his thoughts-

If his heart hadn’t hurtled itself against his ribs, Sasuke would have thought he turned to stone. Slowly, he closed the fingers of his left hand into a fist, his joints stiff and unwilling. He hadn’t put on a new bandage after helping Shisui clean, and as the consequences of this dawned on him, his breath left him in a frightened little exhale.

Oh.

Naruto _knew_.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Naruto whispered, a hint of pain flashing through his eyes. “You’re the one who said that what they have is better than anything we went through. Why can’t we-“

Sasuke could hear Naruto swallow, could feel his breath hot against his mouth as he tried to speak again.

“If I’m your most important person…”

Feeling his defenses crumble into dust, Sasuke’s body tensed in expectation. There was a ringing in his ears, blood pounding through his body, his chest heaving against Naruto’s. He wasn’t ready. It was too much, too soon and too fast, but Naruto only hesitated a second before pressing their mouths together.

 _Oh_.

Sasuke didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t like the previous times Naruto had kissed him. Actually, this wasn’t like anything he’d ever experienced before. He stared up at Naruto’s closed eyelids, lips slightly parted, mind still reeling. Naruto’s mouth felt soft but the contact was blazing hot, as if he was sucking in a fire ball instead of sending it towards an enemy. Then Naruto’s hands eased their hold on him and slid down his arms, and Sasuke _shuddered_.

“Narut-“

His protests were silenced by another kiss, more demanding this time as Naruto cradled his head in his hands. This time, the fire wasn’t just burning his lips, but his chest and stomach and thighs as well. He could feel his toes curl, legs bending at the knees and heels digging into the mattress, fingers grasping helplessly for the sheets. Naruto’s lips were molded to his, coaxing him to respond, sliding over his sensitive skin until he choked on a heavy sigh.

When Naruto lifted his head to separate them they were both breathing in harsh pants, invisible sparks flying between them. Naruto’s eyes were wide and unblinking, like he couldn’t believe they had just _kissed_.

Sasuke certainly couldn’t believe it. Then again, his entire body was _tingling_ , shivering in anticipation for something _more_.

“Don’t you dare say this is wrong,” Naruto gritted out through clenched teeth, fingers digging into Sasuke’s scalp.

Wrong? The only wrong thing here was that Naruto had stopped kissing hi-

 _Oh_. _Ooooooh._ Oh no, this was _so_ wrong, so many levels of wrong that-

Naruto slapped a hand over his mouth.

“I said _don’t._ Don’t even _think_ about it.”

Sasuke wanted to argue that it’s not like he could control his thoughts, especially not lately, but then again, he wasn’t going to start anything when Naruto looked like _that_. So he swallowed the protests and kept silent, trying his best to not do anything at all, really, because this was uncharted territory now.

“I…” Naruto hesitated, pushing himself up to sit above Sasuke instead, hands clenching into fists in his lap. “I mean, I didn’t really imagine it was gonna go like this, but…”

While Naruto gnawed on his lips, looking anywhere but at him, Sasuke tried to wrap his mind around the situation. Naruto had kissed him. Naruto hadn’t imagined it was gonna go like this.

The key word here was _imagined_ , wasn’t it?

“What do you mean?”

If his voice came out a little strange and rough he’d never admit it.

“Umm, well…” Naruto was scratching his neck, blushing furiously. “You were thinking all those things about me, and I just-“ He caught his lips between teeth, staring at a spot on the wall somewhere above Sasuke’s head.

“I wasn’t-“

Sasuke swallowed, then realized his hands were still gripping at the sheets by his head. Also, Naruto was sitting on his thighs. He wanted to ignore that, he really did, but it turned out to be extremely distracting whenever Naruto squirmed a bit in discomfort.

“Sasuke, I _read_ your _thoughts_. I won’t hesitate to do it again if you try denying it!”

They stared at each other, though Sasuke tried to narrow his eyes into a glare. He probably didn’t succeed well because Naruto had slammed his hands down on his hips, pressing down on them, and _what the ever-loving fuck was his body doing?!_ Not what he told it to, that’s for sure.

This whole situation was going to be the end of him, he could tell. Who knows what deep secrets Naruto had seen? And Sasuke couldn’t even blame that on him because _he’d_ been the one to put his hands all over Naruto in the first place. It was awful. It was-

Oh god. Naruto had, in his irritation at Sasuke’s silence, curled his fingers so that his nails dragged against his stomach through the thin material of his shirt. And Sasuke had, in panic, thrown his arms down to grip at Naruto’s hand.

But.

 _But_.

Naruto’s mouth had formed a perfect circle, his eyes impossibly wide as they watched him, like Sasuke had suddenly grown an extra head. He wished he had, because the breathy gasp leaving his mouth had _not_ come from him. _No_.

“Sasuke, you-“

“Dinner’s ready!”

Charasuke’s bored voice travelled up the stairs and through the door, jolting them both out of their stupor. Naruto squawked. Sasuke used his legs to shove him off the bed.

“Goddammit Sasuke!” Naruto groaned from the pile of limbs he’d become on the floor, staying in that position for a few seconds which allowed Sasuke to remember his ninja skills in order to forcefully calm down his panicked body. “And I mean both of you!”

Naruto untangled himself but stayed on the floor, shoulders slumped and lower lip jutting out with his side towards the bed. Sasuke tried not to look at him. It was difficult. His mind was still spinning out of control but at least his body was listening again as he sat up, though his voice betrayed him when he tried using it.

“Let’s just go eat,” he mumbled, throat dry and lips feeling numb from the earlier tingling he’d felt.

“I don’t want to,” Naruto told him childishly, crossing his arms and legs and scowling at the floor. “And I don’t want to go see Orochimaru later either. In fact, I don’t I want to go anywhere _at all_.”

Sasuke had almost forgotten about their check-up. It didn’t sound very appealing to him either, but anything was better than staying in this room.

“Well too bad because-“

Sasuke voice dried up when Naruto raised his head to look at him. Maybe because Naruto wasn’t looking at his _eyes_.

“I’ll go if you kiss me.”

Sasuke’s lungs dried up as well.

He tried breathing, he really did, but it seemed all his body functions were failing him. Mouth pursed, Naruto got on his feet and took a few stumbling steps to reach the bed again, kneeling in front of him with an expectant face. Sasuke would have pushed him away again, would have told him to stop being a moron and quit messing around, but the strong emotion in Naruto’s eyes…

This was what he’d been running from, at thirteen years of age. This raw power Naruto held over him, and the knowledge that he was _such_ a willing victim.

He didn’t want to think about it. His mind couldn’t grasp the concept, couldn’t deal with everything that came with this knowledge and every consequence it would lead to, should he give in.

He wasn’t ready. But would he ever be?

“ _Hey_ ,” Naruto whispered, inching closer, breath washing over his mouth, fingers running along his jawline. “Stop thinking so much.”

Soft lips landed on the corner of his mouth, stayed there with light pressure, light enough that he could easily move away. Naruto breathed through his nose, eyes closed, hands on Sasuke’s shoulder and knee. There were reasons this was bad, weren’t there? Lots of them, too. Sasuke couldn’t remember.

“They’ll come looking for us,” he said, which wasn’t what he wanted to say but it was probably for the best, anyway.

Naruto hummed, kissed his cheek, kissed his jaw. This was getting dangerous.

“Naruto,” he warned, pressing his fingertips against Naruto’s chest.

His mouth was now hovering just underneath his ear, brushing against the skin there, his heavy sigh spreading warmth through Sasuke’s veins.

“I’m just,” Naruto mumbled, tensing up. “It’s just...”

Holding his breath, Sasuke clenched his eyes shut, feeling the shiver in his neck when Naruto’s fingers travelled up his skin.

“Sasuke…”

“Oh please, don’t mind me.”

They both jumped, Naruto almost shrieking as he turned towards Charasuke who was leaning in the doorway and scrambling to get out of bed.

“We weren’t doing anything!” Naruto’s voice sounded panicked as he held his hands out towards Charasuke, skin bright red all the way to his ears. “Dinner! It’s dinner time right! Let’s go let’s goooo!”

He ushered Charasuke out into the hallway, nervously blabbering about how hungry he was and how he really should have called them or _knocked_. Once they were out, Sasuke fell back onto the bed, all his strength gone just like that.

He crossed his arms over his face. Took a deep breath. Wondered if it was too late to join Juugo as a hermit in the forest.

When he exhaled, he tried to pretend he wasn’t a boneless mess with an aching chest and lips he wanted to scratch and rub until the stupid tingling stopped. He couldn’t tell if he was glad that Charasuke interrupted them or if he wanted to lodge a kunai between his eyes, but either way it seemed his body could no longer be trusted around a certain blond moron. The extra beat inside his chest had turned into a buzz, poking at him to follow Naruto downstairs.

He groaned, and it sounded just as pathetic as he felt. Today was so full of _shit_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Naruto was going to say? "It's just... I'm kinda hard."
> 
> Well, maybe not. But I was contemplating it. We'll save that for later. :D
> 
> And it seems Sasuke has finally accepted bitter defeat? Bet you didn't expect him to accidentally confess huh? Mwahahaha. Sometimes I just love writing.


	29. Sparks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentines's Day! Well I'm two days late but whatever, my [v-day fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7145801) will be even later since I finished up this chapter instead of that one. (EDIT: it was posted in June lol)
> 
> Thank you for all your lovely comments last chapter! I hope you'll find this chapter to your liking as well:3

When Sasuke walked down the stairs it certainly wasn’t because he’d collected himself. No, he was still a tingling, trembling mess, but when he looked at his hands they were steady, and when he stood up from the bed he hadn’t swayed. Therefore, he had decided that if it was only on the inside he was burning up, then he might as well go downstairs before Naruto had the stupid idea of skipping dinner.

That didn’t mean he was walking fast, oh no. He moved gingerly, as if in pain, holding on to the stair railing as he descended. Somehow he felt like he was a different person going downstairs than he’d been when going up.

The frightening thing was that it all made sense, by a twisted sort of logic. How much had Naruto seen? More than Sasuke had ever intended for him to see, that was for sure. Things he didn’t want to see himself. And because Naruto had seen it, and because Sasuke had said all those things in regards to Menma and Charasuke, there was only one logical result.

He paused, almost by the base of the stairs now. He tried to breathe slowly, in through his nose, out through his mouth, staring unseeingly at the wall opposite of him. There were voices in the kitchen, laughter, Naruto twice as loud as the rest of them.

Sasuke’s knees felt weak.

He gripped the railing tighter, his other hand coming up to rub at his chest. What was he supposed to do? If he walked in there, did it mean he accepted everything Naruto had said? Just because it was logical didn’t mean it was a good idea. In fact, Sasuke could come up with hundreds of reasons for why this was, really, a terrible idea.

Brushing a finger over his lips instead he could easily recall the warmth of Naruto’s mouth, the softness of it as it connected so _easily_ with his. Like it was meant to.

He pressed his lips together, tightened them into a thin line. With a deep breath he shook the thought off, deciding he could deal with it later. He’d taken long enough to appear as it was. Decision made he walked towards the kitchen, keeping a firm check on his emotions and bracing himself before entering.

“Oh, there you are, sweetie,” Mikoto smiled, reaching a hand out and urging him to sit.

Sasuke kept his eyes trained to the floor, obediently sitting down in the empty chair next to her. Naruto and Shisui were talking animatedly about last night’s dessert, trying to come up with ways to improve it while Itachi listened with a pained expression on his face. He had only made a quick glance towards him, thinking it was safe since Itachi was opposite of Naruto, but his eyes involuntarily found silky blond hair and smooth tan skin and hands that only minutes ago were touching him and-

Jolted out of his thoughts Sasuke tore his eyes back down, forgetting to breathe again. He was very happy that Mikoto was sitting between him and Naruto, shielding him a little at least. Strange things were going on inside him and Naruto would only make it worse. He was the cause of it, after all.

Feeling eyes on him, he glanced across the table at Charasuke who was munching slowly on his rice while staring at him. When their eyes met, Charasuke narrowed his in contemplation.

“Shisui, when are you getting your apartment back again?” he asked, still staring at Sasuke.

“Oh, well, in a couple of days!” was Shisui’s cheerful reply, his chopsticks waving to emphasize his words. “Why, are you sad you’re not the only one at home so you can be spoiled?”

Charasuke huffed, cheeks heating up in anger.

“Be nice, Shisui,” Mikoto scolded him, and Sasuke picked up his chopsticks to eat so no one thought of involving him in conversation.

The topic changed to mundane things and Sasuke tuned them all out, doing a good job of focusing on his food. Not that he had much of an appetite, which was strange considering he’d been so hungry before. Sure he was used to eating without an appetite but attempting to eat when there were _tingles_ trying to burst out of his throat was slightly more difficult. When everyone else had finished, Sasuke had barely eaten half his food, something Mikoto expressed her concern over.

“Was there something wrong with the food? I don’t mind making something else for you if you didn’t like it,” she said, placing her hand on his arm and squeezing reassuringly.

“No, no, it was good,” he stammered out, flustered from everyone looking at him when he still hadn’t gathered all the stray pieces of his body together from his earlier figurative explosion.

It had felt like a real explosion, anyway.

“Are you sure? Well you could always get something later, okay? Oh goodness, we haven’t given you any money yet, have we? Fugaku, how could we forget!”

She looked mortified at the mistake, shooting up from her chair and heading over to one of the cupboards.

“Oh, that’s right,” Fugaku blinked, turning towards him with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I was only thinking about keeping track of your salary, but we usually give those out every other week so that wouldn’t be until the next.”

“It’s fine, really,” Sasuke tried to assure them, more concerned with the fact that there was now only open space between him and Naruto than with his lack of money.

“Nonsense,” Mikoto waved him off with, opening a small tin box and counting out coins and bills. “Besides, both of you need new clothes. I guess so much has been happening that it slipped my mind.”

“Yeah, or you could use Itachi’s clothes.”

“Sasuke, dear, Itachi’s clothes would be too large,” Mikoto replied distractedly, a small frown on her face before looking up at them. “What are your plans for the weekend, by the way?”

“Ugh, we’ve got work,” Shisui complained, leaning his head in his hand and looking very sorry for himself.

“She wasn’t asking _you_ ,” Itachi mumbled, rolling his eyes when Shisui faked hurt.

Mikoto was ignoring the two of them, instead waiting patiently for Sasuke or Naruto to answer.

“Ah, well, we haven’t really made any plans, I guess?” Naruto said hesitantly, and Sasuke thought he did a good job of not looking at him.

It was bad enough he could feel Naruto watching him, feel his presence as bright as ever in the small room.

“Iruka said it’s fine if I leave clones around to do the work so I won’t be busy.”

Mikoto nodded at Naruto, pursing her lips in thought.

“Then we will definitely go shopping tomorrow.” She turned her eyes to Sasuke instead, narrowing them threateningly. “And you, you need plenty of rest. No shopping, no training, no nothing.”

Sasuke blinked at his plate, wondering what he was supposed to do then. Actually, never mind that. Mikoto was only taking _Naruto_ shopping?!

“Why don’t we send him off to the clan spa?” Fugaku suggested, relaxing back in his chair. “Sasuke could go with him.”

“What! Why me?” Charasuke whined, but Sasuke wasn’t listening to him.

All he could think was that there was no way Naruto would agree to that. Besides, he needed to train Charasuke, not relax with him. And if he didn’t have work then he should at least make himself useful somehow, maybe-

“Wow, you have a clan spa?” Naruto exclaimed, apparently awed by the information. “That’s awesome, Sasuke! I mean, you’ve been pretty tense the past days, so, uh…”

Naruto trailed off, but no one seemed to notice the strange tone to his voice by the end. When Sasuke snuck a glare at him, Naruto was busy poking into his empty rice bowl with his chopsticks.

“Well, that’s settled then!” Mikoto happily decided. “I’ll just go get an envelope for the money.”

She left the kitchen, and Shisui immediately let his head connect with the table.

“So unfair,” he whined, groaning childishly. “We’ve got work while the kids get spoiled. Isn’t it awful?”

The last part was directed at Itachi, who merely shrugged and stood up to clear the table.

“Unlike me,” Itachi said with a slight edge to his voice, “you actually chose to become the Hokage’s assistant. I’m only forced into this by popular demand.”

Shisui let out a low, monotone noise, staring at Itachi as he bustled about while Fugaku cleared his throat. Then, as Itachi moved past him, he reached a hand out and slapped his butt soundly. Almost before it was over Itachi turned around, slamming Shisui’s face back into the tabletop and glaring murder at him.

“You think this is funny?” he hissed, but Shisui grinned at him as best he could.

“Oh please, deny it all you like, but I know you sat up last night preparing some of the paperwork already. _And_ you set up a draft plan for the Kazekage’s stay. _And_ double checked with the hotel staff. You know, you’re making my job a lot easier.”

“Well,” Itachi sniffed, “I couldn’t leave planning to the likes of _you_. Who knows what diplomatic horrors that would result in?”

“You _could_ work together,” Fugaku suggested nicely, Charasuke snickering behind a hand.

“Nah, Itachi feels like he needs to live up to the people’s expectations of him. Isn’t it so cute?”

“You should get an assistant,” Charasuke said, weighing on his chair. “Make them do all the dirty work like Obito does with Shisui.”

“I don’t need someone to do my dirty work for me.” Itachi sounded offended, walking over to the sink with his arms full of dirty dishes. “Besides, I’m only a candidate. I’ll only get an assistant if I have no other choice.”

“Itachi, you should feel more pride. Being chosen as a candidate is a huge honor, not just for yourself but for the clan as well.” Fugaku sounded as if he’d said the same thing before, ending his sentence with a half sigh.

“I’m aware.”

Itachi’s shoulders were stiff as he turned on the tap, the atmosphere in the room changed from relaxed to tense in moments. Sasuke remembered the conversation he’d overheard between him and Shisui, when he’d also discovered their relationship. It seemed as if Itachi still wasn’t over Shisui adding his name to the election.

“You’re gonna have to explain this whole election business to me later,” Naruto broke the tension with, Shisui sending him a weak smile.

“Sure. It’s a pain in the ass though,” he replied, hoisting himself up to sit straight again. “But for now, there are only three candidates left. And next week the Kazekage is visiting with his family, so they have to join in on everything.”

“Well, Itachi has already met the Kazekage, right?” Fugaku said, looking far more pleased about the whole thing than Itachi did.

“I prefer Gaara, his son. He’s a lot more approachable,” Itachi muttered, flinging his ponytail over his shoulder and starting with the dishes.

“You mean Gaara’s not the Kazekage?!”

Everyone turned to Naruto with surprised looks, waiting for him to explain himself.

“Why would an eighteen-year-old be Kazekage in this world?” Sasuke sighed, giving up on his food. “You and Gaara are just strange exceptions.”

Naruto’s cheeks reddened, but his retort was cut off by Mikoto’s return.

“Naruto is the Hokage?” she asked, bewildered, looking between them for an answer.

“I thought he was the second assistant?” Charasuke frowned, everyone directing their gazes towards Sasuke now.

“I _am_ ,” Naruto said. “An assistant, I mean.”

“Really? Because the way he said it…”

Oh, great. Now even Naruto was staring at him with accusation in his eyes.

“I’m not the Hokage,” Naruto huffed, crossing his arms defiantly.

“Still,” Fugaku noted, “being an assistant at your age is remarkable. There are some who say that job is more difficult than being the Hokage.”

He sent a sly look Shisui’s direction that was promptly ignored.

“Who’s the third candidate?” Sasuke asked, directing the conversation away from Naruto.

“Mitarashi Anko,” Mikoto answered offhandedly, standing next to Fugaku’s chair and watching the both of them with a contemplative look on her face. “You know, I didn’t want to pry or anything, but you two really don’t want to talk about your world, do you? Not when it comes to the important things.”

Sasuke stilled, sensing Naruto tensing up as well. It was true they avoided certain topics, though he’d been hoping no one would notice. Of course, these were ninjas, not civilians. The silence sent a prickling feeling up his neck, but at least he was getting distracted from all the tingling and whatever.

“It’s not that we’re trying to keep you in the dark, or anything,” Naruto started slowly, using his serious voice. “We’d just prefer not talking about it.”

A few more rounds of silence, and then Itachi cleared his throat.

“Should I prepare some tea?”

“Oh, yes, please,” Mikoto said, smiling affectionately at him, and just like that the tension was gone. “Here, Sasuke,” she added, handing him the envelope. “Please let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thank you,” he murmured, deciding to stay quiet from now on, like he should have.

“Ah, why don’t we move to the living room?” Shisui suggested, clapping his hands together. “You two can stay a little longer, right?”

“What time is it?” Naruto asked, then checked the clock on the wall. “We should maybe get going, we’re meeting Orochimaru in half an hour.”

“Oh, right. Better not be late, he hates that.”

Naruto chuckled half-heartedly, then stood up and walked the few steps to Sasuke’s side.

“Ready to go?” he asked, hesitating just a little before placing his hand lightly on Sasuke’s shoulder.

The contact felt warm and reassuring, and Sasuke suppressed a sigh before nodding once. When Naruto didn’t move immediately, he raised his face towards him, breath catching as their eyes met. Naruto looked worried at first, searching his eyes for something. Apparently he found whatever it was because the corners of his mouth pulled upwards quickly, his expression softening.

“I just gotta pee first,” he said happily, squeezing Sasuke’s shoulder before skipping off.

It really was impressive how quickly Naruto could go from immature to mature and then back again. Mikoto and Fugaku left for the living room, Charasuke heading off somewhere as well. It was only after several minutes of silence that he realized there was still tension between Itachi and Shisui, even though they helped each other with the dishes.

He turned slightly, glancing at their backs as they worked much slower than necessary. While they might not be talking, they seemed to be communicating perfectly well in looks and gestures and little inclinations of their heads. When quite a few of these had been directed at him, Sasuke figured he might as well ask.

“What?”

Both of them froze, then continued working as if Sasuke hadn’t spoken at all.

“I said, _what_.”

“Ah, it’s nothing, really,” Shisui replied, still not looking at him.

“You were clearly talking about me,” he insisted, a nervous lurch in his stomach at the almost imperceptible look the two shared at his words.

“I guess you caught us,” Itachi shrugged.

“And?”

Itachi turned at that, blinking innocently at him.

“And it means we’ll stop until you leave with Naruto. Shouldn’t you go check on him? He’s been in the bathroom for quite some time now. I’m almost worried.”

Sasuke gaped at him, speechless. Then he snapped his mouth shut, and feeling extremely done with everything he got up and left at a stiff walk. He’d only just passed the doorway when Shisui called out to him, amusement in his voice.

“Oh, and don’t think we can’t tell you didn’t talk to him about the mission!”

When Sasuke turned back to him, Shisui made a gesture from his own eyes towards Sasuke, mock seriousness in his expression.

“I’m watching you, okay? But if he kicks you out you’re always welcome to share with Charasuke.”

It dawned on him then, that they were _making fun_ of him. He paused, debating his options. On the one hand, it made him feel like when he was a child, a constant target for his brother and cousin. On the other hand, his nerves were already frayed enough that anything at this point could tip him over, and he honestly had no idea what was waiting on the other side.

 He just knew he wasn’t going to like it.

…also, _shit_. He’d forgotten about the mission. Maybe it showed on his face because Shisui dropped the act and sighed, shaking his head in pity.

“Oh, how I miss being young and easily distracted by love. Remember those times, Itachi? Those were good times.”

“Yes, and now you’ve become a bitter old man. Must be fun.”

“Itachi! How could you!”

Even though Itachi had seemed so upset earlier, he now smiled and pecked Shisui’s pouting lips before patting his cheek.

“It’s okay. You hardly notice the grey hairs, anyway.”

All color drained from Shisui’s face, his hands coming up to hover over his curly hair.

“That’s not true, is it? I don’t have grey hairs! Sasuke, tell me I don’t have grey hairs!”

 _Ah,_ Sasuke thought. _Payback time_.

“You can’t really see them at this distance,” he told him with his most serious expression, Itachi hiding a snort with a cough.

Shisui sent a look of utter betrayal towards Itachi, then groaned dramatically and threw his hands out to his sides.

“I am _trying_ to help,” he complained, slumping against the counter in defeat. “What did I ever do to deserve this?”

Sasuke could name a few things, several of those within the past few hours. He didn’t have time to reply though, seeing as Naruto returned from the bathroom, slinging an arm across his shoulders and peering curiously at Shisui.

“What did I miss?”

Normally, Naruto would stand beside him, his arm covering the back of his shoulders. This time, however, Naruto was standing directly behind him with his arm resting against Sasuke’s chest, the contact so unexpected that he sucked in a breath.

“Oh, just the topic of Shisui’s grey hairs,” was Itachi’s airy reply, his mouth twitching at the corners.

“Huh,” Naruto said, leaning his cheek against Sasuke’s _and there was no way he wasn’t doing that deliberately!_

Sasuke was trying hard not to move, his heart working its way towards a staccato in his chest. He could understand, logically, that things were going to change, but still! This was outrageous!

“I didn’t notice he had any,” Naruto continued, his breath hot against Sasuke’s skin, little shivers finding their way down his neck.

“Thank you!” Shisui exclaimed, looking at Itachi like he was expecting an apology. “See? I knew you were lying!”

Shoving his hands down his pockets, Sasuke tapped his fingers against his thighs, silently urging the others to finish the conversation so they could leave.

“Eeh, hold on, now that you mention it-“

“Naruto! Don’t betray me like _they_ did!”

Naruto snickered in his ear, and Sasuke didn’t know what to think. Sometimes it was so hard to wrap his mind around the fact that this was reality, even more so now, with Naruto holding him like this and joking around with his family. His chest was starting to feel tight again, and he bit his lip so he wouldn’t react. He wondered how Naruto was able to act so naturally, as if things hadn’t changed fundamentally just an hour ago.

As if things hadn’t changed impossibly much since they arrived in this place.

“You should probably get going though, I have a feeling mother will wake you up early tomorrow morning,” Itachi told them, waving carelessly with a large spoon that was still dripping with water. “She takes these things rather seriously.”

“Ah crap, I wanted to sleep in for once,” Naruto complained, squeezing Sasuke a tad tighter before letting go of him. “But yeah, I guess you’re right. See ya!”

Sasuke followed Naruto silently, unable to find the energy to wave back, or do much more than nod at Mikoto and Fugaku when they told them goodnight. Naruto had apparently collected his jumpsuit, carrying it in a bag as they left.

“Oh man, I feel completely drained,” Naruto sighed as they walked onto the road, bag slung across his shoulder. “I mean, I like your family, but it can get a little intense, you know.”

Sasuke didn’t trust his voice, surprised that Naruto wasn’t as energetic as he seemed. Then again, Naruto really was good at acting when it came to that sort of thing. He didn’t elaborate however, and they kept walking in silence for a few minutes. As they entered a more populated area he couldn’t help but notice Naruto glancing at him every so often, always quick to avert his eyes whenever he was caught.

While he was thankful for the small break from everything going on, Sasuke couldn’t help but find Naruto’s hesitation to speak very annoying. They were walking close together, almost close enough that their hands would brush, and every now and then Naruto would glance at him a little longer, his hand twitching slightly as if wanting to reach out for him.

More than annoying it was a bit unnerving, like Sasuke was simply waiting for something to happen.

“What?” he sighed, exasperated that Naruto startled as if burned.

“Nothing!” Naruto had stopped, holding his bag in both hands and staring off to the side, squirming just a little like he usually did when he wanted to say something but thought he shouldn’t.

“It’s clearly something.”

“No it isn’t.”

Sasuke clicked his tongue, definitely annoyed at this point. Why did Naruto have to be so damn off and on sometimes?! One second he’s spouting emotional crap, the other he’s acting like a kid who was caught thinking of doing what he’d just been told not to do.

While he might not like hearing whatever was on Naruto’s mind, Sasuke was too tired to deal with the whole tension thing emanating from the other.

“Fine. I’ll just wait here until you spit it out.”

Naruto gaped at him, then slowly recovered to instead look at him like he couldn’t decide which was worse, tell him or stand there staring at each other awkwardly.

“...it’s embarrassing,” Naruto mumbled, “and you wouldn’t agree anyway.”

Sasuke pinched his nose in frustration, feeling a groan form somewhere down his throat as he saw Naruto’s tan cheeks darken slightly. This had something to do with earlier, didn’t it? He was starting to regret stopping in the middle of the street now, but on the other hand, Naruto had already kissed him so how much worse could it get?!

...oh kami, Naruto wasn’t going to kiss him in public was he? But Naruto hadn’t really seemed like that’s what he was thinking of, call it a gut feeling but this was most likely about something else. Which was a relief because he didn’t think he could handle that yet. Actually, why was he even considering this at all?!

He took a deep breath, removing his hand from his nose and levelling Naruto with narrowed eyes.

“You know, it’s enough that you’ve been acting weird for days. Not knowing what’s going on in your head is so exhausting.”

Naruto blinked at him, and Sasuke cursed himself for letting his tongue loose. Then again, it was true. He was tired of people suddenly dropping things on him, at least he was prepared now that Naruto was going to say something that would probably make him feel emotions and crap.

He could handle this. Nothing Naruto did or said could top what had happened in Charasuke’s bedroom and therefore he wouldn’t be caught by surprise and swept away by the mood.

“Oh,” Naruto said, gnawing on his lips. “I’m still not sure it’s a-“

“Spit. It. _Out_.”

First, Naruto simply stared at him again, unimpressed by his irritation. Then he stepped closer, slowly, as if afraid Sasuke would run off like a startled animal. It only served to make the tick in his eye more pronounced, but he remained passive so they could get it over with and keep going before they were late.

“Don’t freak out, okay?” Naruto asked, his expression guarded.

Sasuke levelled him with a flat glare.

“Okay...” Naruto inhaled, sidling up to Sasuke before shifting the bag over to his right hand, hesitating another moment before moving his left.

He could feel Naruto’s fingertips nudge the back of his hand, frowning as they dragged lightly downwards before wedging their way between his fingers, curling around them until they were-

Until they were _holding hands_.

“Is this okay?” Naruto asked before he had time to gather his thoughts, looking so nervous and wide-eyed that whatever protests Sasuke had been trying to gather into sentences simply vanished from his head in a little poof.

He didn’t like that look on Naruto’s face. Naruto was never supposed to look vulnerable or worried, and if _Sasuke_ was the cause of it, well that just wouldn’t _do_. He could deal with some measly handholding, if it meant Naruto would go back to his cheerful self. Having Naruto looking at him like that just wasn’t good for his soul.

Turning back in the direction they were headed, certain he could hear his neck crack from how stiff it was, he started walking fast while pulling Naruto along with him

“We’re going to be late, dobe,” he muttered, keeping his gaze straight ahead.

At first Naruto followed him in silence, one step behind. He must have regained his confidence pretty quickly though, because soon he was by Sasuke’s side, grinning wide.

“Hey, Sasuke, we should try running like this!” he said excitedly, skipping a little in his step.

“No.”

“But Saaasukeeee.”

“I said no.”

Naruto huffed and pouted and whined, but he was gripping Sasuke’s hand hard the whole way to the hospital despite it all. It was strange how winded Sasuke felt when they arrived, despite only walking for less than ten minutes. As they neared the entrance he expected Naruto to let go, but of course he didn’t. When Sasuke sent him a look he only smiled cheekily in return, as if their handholding was a bet Sasuke had lost and Naruto took great pleasure in rubbing it into his face.

Letting out a sigh he led the way towards Orochimaru’s office, relieved that no one was really paying any attention to them. He felt like they should be, but maybe they were all busy, or had received orders not to.

Once they reached the door Naruto knocked on it impatiently, _still_ not letting go. Sasuke wasn’t very happy about the fact that his hand felt a bit sweaty now, and that the touch wasn’t helping him fight down his emotions at all.

“Ah, there you are,” Orochimaru greeted them softly, his hair tied so that it fell over one shoulder of his white uniform. “I just finished my rounds, but come on in.”

“Great,” Naruto smiled, though it was a sinister one that had Sasuke raise an eyebrow.

He wasn’t still mad over the whole drug-thing, was he? On the other hand, knowing how stubborn he was...

“I’ll be right back,” Naruto said to him, squeezing his hand one last time –and no it didn’t cause a brand new eruption of tingles up his arm– before heading inside.

Sasuke took a minute to stare at the door after it was shut in his face, wondering if he needed to worry about Naruto’s abrupt change in mood. Deciding he was much too tired for that he sat down in one of the waiting chairs placed along the wall, leaning his head back and rubbing at his eyes.

He really wasn’t in the mood for Orochimaru’s prying questions right now. Maybe going to a spa wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. It might give him some time to gather up his thoughts, and decide on how to deal with today’s events.

Catching himself staring at his hand he quickly let it drop to his side again, furrowing his brows in thought. Naruto had seen whatever it was he had seen, enough to figure out that he was Sasuke’s most important person. Well, that much he could admit. Where he’d gotten the idea that this meant Sasuke also wanted to do things like kissing and holding hands he had no idea, unless it was inspired by Charasuke somehow.

Unless he had been thinking about it already...

But no, he waved that thought off as ridiculous. Why would Naruto go around thinking about kissing him? That was definitely not the case. Even if he _had_ said he didn’t imagine things to go like that but, that didn’t necessarily mean he was talking about the kissing, did it? Naruto hadn’t been acting like all those girls who’d had a crush on him, but he _had_ been acting strange though...

Sasuke groaned, despite himself, and buried his face in his hands. Why did it have to be so complicated. No matter what Naruto had been thinking before, he was _clearly_ thinking about it _now_ , even going so far as to touch him differently. He just didn’t like that things changed into this before he had time to even prepare.

Naruto would be _Hokage_ , and Sasuke had been an S-rank criminal. It didn’t look good, and that was the cold harsh truth. He wasn’t blind to what people thought of Naruto being friends with him, or what the real reason was that they had offered him an apartment of his own instead of sharing.

Gah, he just wanted to know exactly what Naruto had seen that made him think Sasuke’s body suddenly belonged to him! Who cares that he asked before holding hands, he looked like he would cry if Sasuke didn’t accept it. It just wasn’t fair that the only thing Sasuke had seen in Naruto’s past was all that stupid regret about not talking to him when they were kids. It was old news. Kind of, at least. Naruto had been shouting about being his best friend often enough that Sasuke figured he counted the time as kids too.  

_‘You’re the one who said that what they have is better than anything we went through. Why can’t we-‘_

Sasuke gritted his teeth, elbows digging into his thighs as he rubbed his face harshly. Why? Because it was a terrible idea! Because it made him feel like he was going to explode! It was pure idiocy! They’d just managed to find some kind of normalcy in their lives, bringing this stupid kissing business into the whole thing was going to cause a mess!

The door slammed open, but Sasuke kept his face in his hands as he felt Naruto stare at him. Had he heard his thoughts, all the way from there?! No, of course not. That would be impossible. Still, his heart beat a staccato as Naruto walked over to him, fluttering pathetically when he felt him crouch down in front of him.

Seriously, this was getting really annoying!

“Sasuke?”

Naruto was peeking up at him, one hand over his knee, the other pushing some of his bangs away from his face.

“What,” he huffed, waiting another couple of seconds before raising his head.

“Ah, no, I shouldn’t be too hard on you,” Naruto mumbled, downcast eyes as he retracted his hand. “You probably have lots to think about.”

Sasuke blinked at him, then scowled nastily at him.

“I’m not-“

“Weak, yes yes I know.” Naruto waved his hand around, weighing back on his heels.

“I wasn’t going to say that.”

Naruto’s eyes found his, amusement and something sort of like fondness twinkling in them.

“Of course not,” he drawled, but then his expression hardened. “What you _should_ have said is that apparently, you’ve got a mission.”

Biting the inside of his cheek, Sasuke kept his face neutral.

“I guess I do.”

Naruto stared at him a little longer before heaving a sigh, sitting down unceremoniously on his ass. He mirrored Sasuke’s earlier position, elbows placed on his bent knees but hands clasped behind his neck instead.

“Maybe I should just start reading your thoughts when you sleep,” he hummed in thought, a grin flickering across his face when Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Maybe you even dream of me, huh?”

Sasuke clicked his tongue, but didn’t bother protesting when Naruto tugged at the sleeve of his left arm. Tan fingers travelled across his now bandaged hand, since he’d managed to do at least that much before leaving Charasuke’s room. They followed the folds of white fabric, moved up along his fingers to tap at his fingertips before circling his palm.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Naruto asked quietly, and Sasuke didn’t know what to say.

He shrugged, observing how Naruto gently turned his hand over to touch across the back as well. He wondered if there was a reason for it or if he just needed something to occupy his hands with.

“I could just check, you know.”

Despite the fact that Naruto could, in fact, very easily slip his fingers underneath fabric and touch his mark, Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“You wouldn’t.”

“No,” Naruto sighed, dropping their hands so that he only held Sasuke’s in a loose grip. “You’re right. But you know what?”

Sasuke waited for him to continue, firmly squashing any stray thoughts that wanted to suggest to Naruto that he should keep playing with his hand.

“Last time I was here, I went on a mission with my parents. Actually I, uh, demanded that they took me with them.” Naruto grimaced, as if the memory embarrassed him. “It was pretty weird. Since they treated me as if I was Menma, you know.”

Since Naruto was looking at him expectantly he nodded, wondering if it would feel weird for him, too. He’d probably be too preoccupied with trying not to mess things up.

“I mean, I’m not happy that you’re gonna go on a mission outside of Konoha that’ll take _days_ , but I get that you said yes.”

When Sasuke frowned, Naruto placed a finger over his lips and grinned.

“If you don’t want to go, that’s great. But if you do want to go, I might let you if you give me a kiss.”

Immediately Sasuke pulled his head back, glaring at Naruto’s amusement. This was serious business!

“I doubt a kiss is going to change your mind one way or the other,” he said coldly, crossing his arms. “And I already said I’m going so I’m going.”

“Alright, I’ll let you go on two conditions.”

“You can’t just change your mind.”

“Three conditions.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Sasuke muttered, tensing up when Naruto stood up and placed his knee between Sasuke’s on the seat of his chair.

“First, you give me a kiss. Second, you let me put one of my teleportation marks on your body.”

“On my _what_.”

“Heh, well,” Naruto cleared his throat, his knee sliding further down the plastic of the chair but Sasuke stopped it between his thighs. “If I put it on a kunai or something you could just throw it away.”

“Damn right I will,” Sasuke retorted hotly, leaning further back when Naruto’s hand connected with the wall behind his head.

“We can discuss the details later,” Naruto dismissed him with, gaze dropping to Sasuke’s lips and _why wasn’t he pushing him away?!_

“And the third one?” Sasuke asked, his back pressed against the chair now.

“Ah, the third.” Naruto let out a little laughter that told Sasuke he would like the third condition even less than the second. “No need to go into details, right?”

Sasuke grabbed the front of Naruto’s sweater, pausing his attempts at inching closer.

“Tell me or I’m throwing you back through the door to Orochimaru’s office.”

Naruto huffed impatiently, trying to pry his hand off.

“You really know how to ruin the mood, bastard.”

“There’s no mood, moron.”

“Is too,” Naruto whined, stubbornly continuing to work at Sasuke’s fingers.

“Just tell me.”

“Why should I? When was the last time you told me anything important, huh?”

Sasuke gritted his teeth, figuring they weren’t getting anywhere. Maybe he should change tactics. Maybe if he allowed Naruto _one_ of his conditions he’d ignore the other ones?

Bracing himself he took a deep breath and pulled Naruto closer, locking their lips together. He’d expected it to be short, like three seconds maybe, but Naruto apparently didn’t have the same idea. Tan hands buried themselves in Sasuke’s hair, tilting his head slightly to the side so that their mouths slanted together, and _oh_ , this wasn’t what he’d planned _at all._

Instead he felt heat blossom inside his chest, gripping the sweater even harder as little shivers made their way down his sides. And Naruto’s lips were _moving_ , slowly dragging over his only to part and repeat the action over again. He was forced to breathe through his nose, mouth much too occupied even though he tried desperately to draw in air in the short moments that they weren’t glued to each other.

Naruto’s hands were combing enthusiastically through his hair, thumbs stroking along his cheekbones and underneath his ears. It was clear to Sasuke that he must have learnt this while travelling with Jiraiya, some kind of seduction technique to use on targets, because he sure as hell wouldn’t be able to defend himself against an enemy attack right now.

Hell, he had enough trouble remembering which way was up and which was down.

After what felt like an eternity Naruto finally slowed down, pressing short kisses to his tingling lips, some of them lingering, until Sasuke made an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. Naruto pulled back with a breathless laugh, as if Sasuke’s complete state of disarray was funny to him. He shouldn’t be surprised.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, right?” Naruto told him, starting to pat down his hair. “And you even started it so you can’t deny it!”

Sasuke quietly seethed, though he hadn’t even opened his eyes yet. He was sure that, if he did, he’d find out that he was actually upside down after all.

“Okay, I’ll go back inside and finish up,” Naruto added, giving him a few final pats and a kiss on the nose.

If Sasuke hadn’t felt frozen in time he would have hit him for that. Definitely. As it was, he focused on stopping the trembling of his limbs, letting his hand fall limp to his lap when Naruto stood up.

“Or we could, like, skip it and go conti-“

“ _Just go_!” Sasuke hissed at him, his eyes opening into slits only to see Naruto’s face split in two from how wide he was grinning. “ _Idiot_.”

Naruto snickered, but quickly shut up when Sasuke glared death at him.

“Okay okay, I’m going!”

Still, he hesitated, weighing on his heels and scratching his neck. Teeth dug into his bottom lip, but when Sasuke reached for the chair next to him he jumped back, sticking his tongue out.

“You totally liked it,” he teased, then hurriedly opened the door and slunk inside.

Once he was gone Sasuke slumped into the chair, sighing deeply. He had a feeling things would only get worse from here on.

xxx

“Ah, Naruto?”

Orochimaru’s question fell on deaf ears as Naruto sank down to the floor, holding his palms to the sides of his face and trying his best not to squeal in happiness. Sasuke kissed him!! Sasuke _kissed_ him!!!

 _He probably just did it to shut you up,_ Kurama suggested, but Naruto didn’t listen to him either.

Now that they had finally confessed to each other, Kurama just wanted a new way to tease him.

Aaah Naruto was going to combust from pure happiness! It had taken every ounce of self control to play it cool in front of Sasuke, because he knew for sure that if he let Sasuke think for an instance that he could wriggle his way out then he would take that chance. He really didn’t know what was best for him.

Naruto’s grin widened as he snickered to himself. Oh, the things he had seen! During dinner he’d had time to properly sort through everything, and now that Sasuke agreed to holding hands and even kissed him, _well._

_You just need to get over the whole nervous twelve-year-old thing first. Not to mention your third condition, kid._

Naruto frowned. So what if he was a little nervous! And as for sending one of his clones after Sasuke’s team, well, what Sasuke didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, right?

Besides, right now he had more important things to think about. Like sneaking another kiss out of Sasuke! It was his new top priority mission!

“Naruto?” Orochimaru tried again, and reluctantly Naruto returned to the outside world.

“He can go on the mission,” he said dismissively, getting up to sit on the chair again.

After all, it’s not like Sasuke couldn’t take care of himself, anyway. The only problem was that they couldn’t kiss during the days he was gone.

Oh, he was going to _suffer_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to think that Sasuke has conveniently forgotten all positive words in existence lol. Anyway, the mission draws nearer! But first we must have some fun at the spa:D Also, we'll get to find out just exactly what it was Naruto saw soon enough, don't worry~


	30. Flames

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incredibly enough we have reached 30 chapters! It took a while but yeah... I've been busy falling in love with Oikawa Tooru. And work and uni and horses and stuff. You know. Spring is always busy and tiring haha... I did write that v-day fic though which I still haven't posted on here or ff.net which is terrible. And I started a haikyuu!! fic! 
> 
> Anyway the spa will have to wait for next chapter, but I don't think you'll be disappointed with the contents of this one:3

Orochimaru sighed. Again. It had only been five minutes since Naruto and Sasuke left his office, but that wasn’t nearly enough time to heave out all the sighs that had gathered up while he talked to them.

He clearly wasn’t getting paid enough. Maybe Tsunade thought it was fine, but those two could easily wipe out the entire village with the flick of a hand if they felt like it, and he didn’t like having that kind of pressure on him to figure out if there was a possibility of that happening. It certainly didn’t help that they had no clue what sort of enemy they were facing, if there even was one. Maybe they really did come here by mistake...

No, Orochimaru didn’t think so. There had to be a reason, and judging by their backgrounds it didn’t look good. Still, most of the time they just felt like confused teenagers trying to handle their feelings for each other. It would have been cute if they hadn’t been so dangerous.

Sighing again, he started gathering up his things to leave. What he needed was some quality time with his snakes, and to forget about the frustration of trying to gather information from two boys who were clearly too distracted thinking about the make-out session they’d been having a few minutes earlier.

There was a firm knock on his door, and before he had time to invite the person, Mikoto entered with a serious expression on her face. Great. Just the person he wanted to see.

His life would have been so much easier if it hadn’t been an Uchiha showing up from a different dimension.

“Alright,” Mikoto said, voice all business as she sat down in the visitor’s chair. “Why don’t you tell me what you found out so far.”

Orochimaru sighed, but it was a different, more longsuffering one this time.                     

“Why should I?” he asked, but knew it was futile.

As head of the Uchiha clan and long-running council member, Mikoto had always found ways to gather the information she wanted without seeing the need for official clearance.

“Because,” she replied with a sweet and oh so sinister smile, “you just had my son in for interrogation and I’d like to know what you’ve been talking about.”

Honestly he was a little surprised she hadn’t showed up after their first session, but he supposed he should be thankful for small mercies.

 “He’s only technically your son,” he mumbled, but sat down again anyway. “Besides, the details are all classified and you know that.”

“Of course I do, it was brought up at the council meeting this morning.”

“I’m guessing Tsunade didn’t let you in on the details.”

Mikoto huffed, crossing her arms irritably.

“I don’t see why she couldn’t. It’s no secret that we have visitors from another dimension. Anyone who believes they’re only here by a teleportation mistake should get their head out of the sand.”

Despite his initial reaction to Mikoto’s arrival, Orochimaru smiled in amusement at that.

“Well, not everyone on the council has your world experience, you know. Tsunade probably thought it’s better if even the council believes that.”

“I’m not falling for it,” she replied, giving him a demanding look. “So start talking.”

Really, these Uchihas. No respect at all.

“Fine,” he agreed, rubbing at his tired eyes. “But you could have just asked Itachi or Obito instead.”

“I’d like to hear your version as well.”

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. Had she already talked to Obito? Maybe that’s why she hadn’t come barging in two days ago.

“Anything you’d like me to start with?”

She hummed in thought, then flicked some of her hair behind her shoulder and bore her dark eyes into him.

“His eyes. I understand how he got his Sharingan and so on, but did he ever elaborate on why his eyesight isn’t supposed to worsen? It really should be, considering how much he’s used them.”

“Hm, well.” Orochimaru leaned his head in one hand, grabbing a pencil to play with as he spoke. “It’s not easy to breach topics like that with him. I’m sure that admittance was a slip up, but it raises an interesting question. He was nearsighted to a certain degree after the first time he fainted, but he said it’s not supposed to be worsening, right?”

Mikoto nodded, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“Which seems to indicate that before he attempted to use his Sharingan with the sage powers blocked, his eyes were fine. And then, after his sage powers came back, they _were_ perfectly fine again. So I’m assuming the damage to them was the same as to Naruto’s hand when he tried using those powers and failed.”

He frowned at the pencil as he gathered his thoughts.

“However, the fact that he doesn’t want to voluntarily disclose the information about his eyes points at the procedure not being pleasant. Then again, considering the story he told us about himself, not much in his life seems to have been very pleasant.”

“And you didn’t try asking Naruto?”

He sighed, for the umpteenth time that night wishing he was at home already, and threw the pencil aside.

“Naruto is protective of Sasuke to the point that it’s ridiculous. Sure, they’ve told us about their pasts, but they haven’t told us about their past _together_. I don’t think they trust us nearly enough yet to tell us those things.”

“Yeah, Naruto said at dinner that they don’t want to talk about it. I mean, I heard everything from Obito so I understand there are things they’d rather not bring up, but Naruto could at least tell us he’s in line to be Hokage? I don’t see why he wouldn’t want to talk about that.”

“Who knows,” Orochimaru shrugged. “Maybe he wants to avoid the follow-up questions.”

“Maybe.”

Mikoto looked doubtful, but changed the subject anyway. Orochimaru just hoped she wouldn’t keep him there the _whole_ night.

xxx

They’d held hands the whole way back to the orphanage. Sasuke hadn’t even protested or commented on it, though of course Naruto would have appreciated some enthusiasm.  Considering the fact that it was Sasuke however meant that he should probably be happy he didn’t throw him through a building or something. Sasuke always tended to overreact…

Whatever Sasuke thought about the recent development between them he kept quiet about it, making a beeline for Naruto’s room without stopping to exchange pleasantries with Iruka. It took a while to wriggle out of the conversation, but once Naruto managed he hurried after Sasuke. He didn’t like not being able to see him, even if he could clearly feel his presence through the walls separating them.

Sasuke was in the bathroom, and Naruto fiercely turned down Kurama’s suggestion to join him. Not because he didn’t _want_ to – and he hated Kurama for acting all _told you so_ about it – but because Sasuke was maybe naked in there and the closet still contained that half crushed pack of condoms and well…

Kissing was nice. _Very_ nice. It made Naruto feel hot all over, just thinking about it. And while he knew that Sasuke liked him he wouldn’t push his luck and suggest doing something more intimate, because sex involved being attracted to someone and what if Sasuke wasn’t attracted to him?

_Are you gonna be all annoying and angsty again?_ Kurama asked as he threw himself on the bed, rubbing at his face.

_No_ , he sullenly replied, because that was a problem for a later time. There were more important things than that, anyway. Like the fact that Sasuke felt all those things for him, that Sasuke had held him close and thought of him, like he was _his_.

Sasuke wanted him close.

Sasuke wanted him _safe_.

He turned on his side, grabbing a pillow to squeeze against his chest. The sound of running water reached him from the bathroom, maybe Sasuke was brushing his teeth.

Sasuke wanted him covered in Uchiha clan symbols.

Letting out a sound that could have been anything between a squeal and a frustrated gurgle, Naruto curled in on himself and buried his burning face in the pillow. Seeing himself in Sasuke’s mind had been so _weird._ All these memories had been rushing through Sasuke’s thoughts, and everything had been _warm_ and _yellow_ and _orange_ even though it _hurt_.

When Sasuke thought of him he hurt, just like Naruto did when thinking of Sasuke.

When Naruto confessed, he could feel his own longing and desperation and pain reflected perfectly, all exploding in a mess of colors.

Just remembering made him feel almost dizzy, and he reached underneath his shirt to rub against the spot where he could feel the beat connecting them. He could feel laughter bubbling up his throat, his lips already splitting open in a giddy grin. Suddenly he couldn’t wait any longer, he needed to see Sasuke _right now_ , before he got too much time on his own in the bathroom and did something awful like contemplate his life and stuff.

Hopping out of bed he took a few long strides towards the bathroom door, flinging it open to reveal Sasuke bent over the sink. It looked like he’d just spit out excess toothpaste, and his head tilted to show an unimpressed look.

“What,” Sasuke sighed, causing Naruto’s grin to grow.

“You like me,” he said, mustering up as much confidence as he could behind the words.

Sasuke’s stare was deadpan and slightly annoyed, but he could see the slight twitch to his fingers and the miniscule widening of pupils.

“Debatable.”

Relief flooded Naruto. It seemed Sasuke had decided there was no point denying things, even though he could easily –too easily–  recall the panic he’d felt once Sasuke’s brain had caught up to the situation in Charasuke’s room.

“You can’t debate the truth,” Naruto insisted, stepping closer as Sasuke straightened up.

“Also debatable,” Sasuke frowned, gaze flickering towards Naruto’s mouth.

_Ooh you should kiss him_ , Kurama urged him on, and Naruto almost tripped on his own feet.

Surprisingly Sasuke had reached a hand out to steady him, and when he looked up at his face he wondered if his heart had always lurched like this whenever Sasuke touched him.

_It has_ , Kurama informed him, but Naruto pushed his comments out of his mind and grabbed Sasuke’s waist in a bold move.

“You like me,” he repeated, and this time Sasuke swallowed and averted his eyes. “Don’t even think about running away.”

“I wasn’t,” Sasuke shot back, irritated but not resisting when Naruto pushed him backwards until his back connected with the wall between the toilet and shower.

“Good,” Naruto breathed against his lips, fingers curling around his shirt as he pressed close to his warmth.

“Dobe, what do you think you’re-“

Sasuke had attempted to struggle but stilled once their lips connected, staring at him accusingly. Naruto raised his eyebrows, daring Sasuke to pull away, pressing even closer to him. Kissing while standing was much better, he concluded, because this way he could feel Sasuke’s chest and legs and hips against his own, hot and hard and trembling just slightly.

He could taste toothpaste, parting his lips to lick along the seam of Sasuke’s. It made them both shiver, dark eyelashes fluttering before Sasuke grabbed his hair and pulled him off.

“No,” Sasuke told him, but his voice sounded raspy and his pupils were still blown wide.

“But why _not_ ,” he whined, burying his face in Sasuke’s neck despite the pull on his hair.

He could feel Sasuke’s chest expand against him as he took a deep breath, tightening his grip.

“Because you’re an idiot.”

Naruto hit him on the shoulder.

“That’s not a reason,” he argued.

“So you’re not denying you’re an idiot?”

This time Naruto stepped on his foot.

“Don’t change the subject. Coward.”

Sasuke sucked in a sharp breath and Naruto knew he’d hit a nerve. Maybe it was a little backhanded, but what the hell. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Please kiss me?” he asked, lifting his head to give Sasuke his best set of puppy eyes.

Oh, he could _see_ Sasuke’s defenses crumbling to dust, his fist slackening its grip and falling to Naruto’s shoulder instead.

“We already kissed,” he muttered, slumping against the wall and staring stubbornly at a point above Naruto’s head.

“So?” Naruto prompted, running his fingers experimentally up and down Sasuke’s sides. “It’s not like we’re gonna run out.”

A lesser man might have run for cover at the glare Sasuke directed at him, but Naruto merely pouted impatiently. Sasuke, for all his love for logic, really wasn’t making any sense. Not that he usually made any sense but right now it was as if he didn’t even try. He blinked. Maybe Sasuke _wanted_ to kiss but was just embarrassed? Brows knitting in contemplation he placed his palms flat against Sasuke’s stomach, moving them upwards slowly so that he could feel every dip and ridge of muscle underneath the thin material of his shirt.

Sasuke still wasn’t looking at him, but Naruto was much too close to not notice the small hitch to his breath or the way his jaw clenched when Naruto’s thumbs ran along his collarbones before continuing up to cradle his cheeks. Tilting Sasuke’s head down by light force, he gave a hesitant smile.

“Please?”

A very annoyed sound made itself known in Sasuke’s throat and his glare was as strong as ever, but his hands found the small of Naruto’s back and his lips parted just enough to be an invitation. Needless to say, Naruto pounced on it.

To think that only hours ago he’d agonized over whether or not Sasuke would ever let him be as close to him as he needed to be, and here they stood with bodies pressed tight and hands gripping hard and hearts beating like drums in their chests.

He felt amazing. If he could just do this for the rest of his life he was pretty certain he’d die happy, because Sasuke was hugging him confidently to his chest, mouth slanted to fit his like they’d practiced for years already.

Breathing was difficult. He kept sighing and gasping and humming into the kiss, hands holding Sasuke’s face in a vice-like grip to crush their mouths even harder together. His body felt so hot, like it was melting into Sasuke’s, being swallowed whole. Standing on his toes he rubbed his body against Sasuke’s, pushing him into the wall as if he really did want to mesh them together.

The result was Sasuke’s fingers digging into his back, a choked moan entering Naruto’s mouth, and it felt like he _exploded_ with heat.

“ _Sasuke_ ,” he groaned, sucking on Sasuke’s lower lip and somehow there were _tongues_ involved and oh god he felt so good, he needed more, he needed-

Sasuke tore his mouth away, tilting his head back to gasp for air, and Naruto wasted no time in latching onto his neck.

“Naruto, fuck, _stop_ ,” Sasuke gritted out, making feeble attempts at pushing him away.

“Don’t think so,” Naruto mumbled, dragging his hands through Sasuke’s hair, feeling it almost crackle underneath his touch.

Wait… crackle?!

Eyes flying open he realized he was emanating a massive amount of chakra, flames of yellow licking up Sasuke’s body.

…oops?

“Goddammit,” Sasuke swore as soon as he stopped, rubbing at his face and arms as if getting rid of an invisible itch. “From now on, you’re only allowed two kisses a day. Idiot!”

Naruto gaped at him.

“ _What?!”_ he yelled, spinning around on his heels when Sasuke pushed past him and exited the bathroom, wiping furiously at his mouth.

It was just some chakra! Sasuke didn’t need to be so rude and stop!

_He liked it, sheesh._

Snapping his mouth shut at Kurama’s comment, Naruto put two and two together. Then he grinned. Oh, he was _never_ going to let Sasuke live this down.

Skipping after Sasuke into the bedroom he tried his best not to start cackling out loud.

“You like my chakra,” he told Sasuke smugly, grin widening as Sasuke’s shoulders stiffened.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sasuke said, his back towards him and fists clenching and unclenching.

“I saw what you were thinking, remember?”

If possible, Sasuke’s shoulders became even stiffer, to the point where Naruto almost wondered if he should take cover just in case another chidori was coming his way.

“Like I said,” Sasuke forced out through clenched teeth, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Naruto recalled the image of himself he’d seen in Sasuke’s mind, all glowing chakra and bright eyes and words like _comfort_ and _relief_ connected to it. Though, maybe he shouldn’t push too far. At least Sasuke had agreed to two kisses a day, which was more than enough proof that this was going to happen again. Not that Naruto would have been able to quit anyway.

Staying quiet for now he inched closer to Sasuke, sneaking his arms around his back and leaning his cheek against the base of his neck.

“ _Only_ two kisses a day?” he asked instead, playing with the hem of Sasuke’s shirt.

“We’re not talking about this. Brush your teeth and go to bed.”

Naruto snickered into Sasuke’s neck, then forgot to think about the consequences and bit lightly into the tempting pale skin.

An elbow to the stomach sent him flying into the wall, and barely two seconds after impact there was a knock on the door before a very concerned Iruka popped his head inside.

“Everything alright?” he asked, eyes darting between a red-faced Sasuke and Naruto in a heap on the floor.

“Just peachy!” Naruto exclaimed, reaching an arm out to make a thumbs up. “Never better!”

Iruka didn’t seem to fully believe him, turning to Sasuke for confirmation.

“This idiot is being his usual idiot self,” Sasuke said, sending a scowl Naruto’s way.

“Oi!”

“Hm, alright then. Try to be a little more quiet if you can? The kids are sleeping already.”

“Of course,” Sasuke replied, Naruto nodding vigorously.

“And maybe tone down the chakra signatures, too.”

“Sorry!” Naruto told him, untangling himself and sitting up.

With a nod and a smile Iruka was out the door again, and as soon as the click from the lock sounded, Sasuke stalked over to grab the front of Naruto’s shirt.

“I changed my mind,” he hissed, but somehow Naruto couldn’t really find his anger anything other than strangely attractive. “No kissing at all.”

Naruto blinked up at him, momentarily distracted by how soft his lips looked.

“Um, what?”

“You heard me.”

“Ah, yeah, it’s just that, I mean it _sounded_ like you said no kissing at all, but-“

Sasuke dropped him to the floor, crossing his arms with a positively _murderous_ glare.

“-like, I mean you can’t mean that because you _liked_ it and you totally kissed back and also I-“

Heaving a deep sigh, Sasuke combed a hand through his hair and walked backwards to sit down on the bed.

“- _really really_ liked it so I’m definitely gonna kiss you again just so you know!”

“Who the hell would want to kiss a dumbass like you?”

“Hey! I’m great at kissing! I’ll prove it right now!”

He shot up to tackle Sasuke on the bed, forgetting that the other man was unfortunately also a ninja. Instead of on top of Sasuke he found himself on his stomach, arms locked behind his back and a knee pressing him down.

“No fair,” he whined, “I’ll drool on your pillow if you don’t let me go!”

“You’ll do that anyway.”

Naruto wriggled, both of them knowing he could easily escape if he wanted to. At least Sasuke was touching him…

“Just go to bed,” Sasuke sighed, releasing him to dig around for the t-shirt and shorts he slept in.

Huffing and making faces, Naruto started crawling towards the edge of the bed, slipping over it only to sit on his knees and stare at Sasuke half hidden. Sasuke had found his clothes from the messy bed, gripping the back of his shirt to pull it over his head. Naruto bit the inside of his cheek, fingertips digging into the edge of the mattress. How clever of him, to find such a good position for ogling Sasuke!

Soon enough strong abs were revealed, bunching a little as Sasuke stretched his arms above his head to remove the shirt. His eyes traced the muscle upwards, between defined pecs and alluring collarbones, and maybe he was actually kind of very gay now that he thought about it. He continued up Sasuke’s throat, finding a faint red mark to one side from when they kissed that did funny things to his lower regions.

“Are you done?”

Sasuke’s unimpressed voice shocked him out of dreamland, dark eyes narrowed into slits.

“Uh, well, I mean if you want to take off your pants…”

Sasuke cracked his knuckles, a sinister smile on his face, and wow brushing his teeth seemed very appealing suddenly. Maybe he could take the time alone to work on that brain to mouth filter.

He got ready for bed in record time, throwing his clothes haphazardly on the floor as he switched to pajama pants that of course had been lent to him by Iruka, deciding to forego the t-shirt. It was usually plenty of warm underneath the covers when he and Sasuke shared, and he sort of wanted to have as little separating them as possible. Sasuke was already in bed, back turned towards him.

Naruto didn’t mind. It was good for his cuddle plans, anyway, and as soon as he got underneath the covers he sidled up to Sasuke and threw an arm around his waist. His nose pressed into the back of Sasuke’s neck again, the small hairs tickling him as he breathed in his scent. He didn’t really know what to do with his other arm though, struggling a little before awkwardly positioning it between their bodies.

“You’re too warm,” Sasuke grunted, shifting away from him.

Considering he was up against the wall he didn’t have much luck getting away.

“I’m not _feeling_ too warm,” he retorted, pulling Sasuke back against him.

He discovered that if he bent his knees he could fit them into Sasuke’s, ankles tangling together. Satisfied with the result he sighed happily, feeling his eyelids droop. Sleeping sounded like a great idea right now. At least it would be great if Sasuke stopped squirming every two seconds.

“Stay still,” he complained, holding him tighter.

“It’s uncomfortable. And I already told you you’re too warm.”

“Well suck it up because I’m not moving.”

“You either move or I’ll go sleep in Charasuke’s bed.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Sasuke grumbled underneath his breath, shifting a few more times before apparently giving up.

“See? It’s not so bad,” Naruto told him triumphantly, earning himself an elbow to the ribs and no comment.

He took that as agreement. Pleased with the day, he took a deep breath and relaxed, ready to sleep. His thoughts strayed to the red mark above Sasuke’s shoulder, and the noise Sasuke had made earlier in the afternoon when Naruto gripped his hips. Cheeks flushing hotly, he pressed his face harder into Sasuke’s skin, ignoring the slight stickiness from the heat. His heart picked up speed, not listening to his angry attempts at calming it down. He couldn’t get the memory of Sasuke’s lips on his out of his head, swallowing against the sudden thickness in his throat.

“Go to sleep, idiot,” Sasuke muttered, lifting a hand to knock him over the head. “Thinking is only going to hurt your brain.”

Naruto opened his mouth to talk back, but he didn’t want to give Sasuke an excuse to kick him away. Instead he huffed a breath against Sasuke’s skin, rubbed his nose against it for good measure, and promptly forced all indecent thoughts out of his head and fell asleep.

Or, at least he made a very valiant effort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems Naruto accidentally discovered Sasuke's chakra kink??? And poor Orochimaru, he doesn't have it easy lol. At least he's the only one looking pretty in the new generation crap. But yeah I hope you're not too mad at me for being slow with updates haha... Oh and in just ten days I'm turning 25! Who knows, maybe I'll actually finish this fic before I'm 30 lol. 
> 
> I hope you've all had a nice weekend:3


	31. Try again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Sup? I'm on summer break now but that's pretty much just me working 40 hours a week haha... Still, I'll do my best to write more often!! This chapter is a bit of an in-between, and there wasn't as much spa stuff as I expected there would be, but oh well. They'll just have to go there again I suppose.  
> I also haven't really checked this through properly but I promised I'd update today so... let me know if anything's messy and I'll fix it when I wake up haha.  
> There's also not much sasnar in this but... next chapter should be more of a treat;3

Naruto didn’t really have any expectations when it came to shopping with Sasuke’s mother. Honestly he’d tried hard not to think about it, which hadn’t been difficult considering how much of a distraction Sasuke was by himself. He almost felt a little sorry for Sasuke, who had woken up this morning squeezed into the wall with Naruto drooling all over him. Well, according to him at least because Naruto had been sleeping soundly until a swift kick had oh so brutally forced him out of dreamland.

(A dreamland in which he and Sasuke spent a lot of uninterrupted quality time together. He could only hope he hadn’t talked in his sleep.)

Currently he was walking alongside Mikoto through the village, headed for what was apparently the Uchiha family’s very own tailor. There was something about fabric quality and tradition and so on that he hadn’t really listened to, much too busy worrying about whether or not this would count as socializing with your mother in law. He’d never gone shopping with _anyone’s_ mother, not even his own in this world, so he thought he was allowed to be a little nervous about it.

“Do you have any favorite colors, Naruto?” she asked him, smiling and appearing perfectly relaxed.

Naruto wanted to relax in her company, really he did, but it was just so _weird_ to go shopping with Sasuke’s _mother_ of all people and especially now that they were together. At least, _he_ thought they were together, but he couldn’t be sure of Sasuke’s view on the matter. And he definitely couldn’t be sure of what his parents thought of it. Considering that Naruto had thought of two guys together being all sorts of wrong until recently, it was starting to dawn on him that there might be difficulties ahead.

Well, that was another thing to push out of his mind so he could focus on Mikoto.

“Um, I like orange, I mean I don’t have anything against other colors but yeah.”

“Like this jumpsuit of yours, huh? You can probably guess it’s not exactly an Uchiha color.”

Mikoto laughed a bit at her own joke, and Naruto couldn’t help but think that her laugh was so pleasant. He wondered if Sasuke would ever laugh like that, and was struck by a sudden longing to hear it.

“Yeah, I mean Sasuke likes to tell me he’d rather be caught dead than wearing orange, so…”

“Is this your training gear, then? Since you were training when you switched dimensions.”

“Huh? No, I wear this all the time.”

When Mikoto’s eyes widened in surprise he shrugged, staring at the ground for his next sentence.

“I never really got around to wearing the regular outfit, I guess.”

“I see,” she mused, thumb on her lower lip as she considered this. “You don’t specialize in recon then?”

Unable to help himself, Naruto let out a little snort at that. Sure, he’d done his fair share of sneaking during missions, but it’s not like he went on missions specifically meant for stealth.

“I’m more of a hands-on guy,” he grinned. “So I don’t really think the color of my clothes make much difference.”

“Aha. So you prefer taijutsu? And I have to admit you don’t seem the type to sit back and wait the enemy out.”

“Mm, isn’t that way too boring?” Naruto felt calmer now, talking about an easier topic compared to clan traditions and types of clothing. “The great Uzumaki Naruto hides for no one!”

He was treated to Mikoto’s quiet laugh again, and he wondered for a painful moment if it was exactly the same as Sasuke’s actual mother’s. She laughed in a way that made her eyes crinkle and her nose scrunch up just a little bit, certainly a laugh that made you feel like you had just said the most entertaining thing in the world.

“I can’t help but think, Sasuke and you must have very different fighting styles.

Naruto’s grin faltered at this, brief flashes of shouting, of charging full speed with sizzling chakra in hand, of combos in the face of a self-proclaimed goddess…

“I don’t know,” he said slowly, “we’re probably not that different if you watch us fight.”

At this Mikoto paused, blinking at him in confusion.

“But, Sasuke must be using the Uchiha fighting style? Long range, doujutsu, genjutsu, that sort of thing?”

“Well yeah, but…” He didn’t know how to explain it. Sasuke had always been so good at close combat, even though of course he used his long range techniques as well. “We had the same teacher in the beginning, so there’s that. But I suppose Sasuke prefers using his katana rather than his fists nowadays.”

“Katana?”

“Oh yeah, he left it behind when we came here. I bet it bothers him but he’d never admit it.”

Mikoto nodded, pursing her lips.                                                                                               

“I think I’ll have to watch you two in a practice match to understand what you mean, don’t you think?”

“Uh…” Naruto didn’t want to tell her that anything besides sparring tended to escalate between the two of them. Loads of their techniques had been banned from usage in the chuunin exam, and there had been a deliberate choosing of opponents in the final matches. Sure, they _said_ all the matches were picked randomly, and he’d believed them – right until they were about to face off in the very last match and a suspicious blizzard had put an end to the exam.

Not that it had stopped them, anyway. They just used the weather as a cover to sneak off further into the mountains to have their match – a match that sadly ended as a draw, but only because the lightning storm that Sasuke conjured up was an unfair advantage in Naruto’s book.

Next time he would definitely beat him.

“Well, that’s for another time,” Mikoto ended that particular topic with. “We’re supposed to think about your clothes today.”

“Right. Clothes. You’re not putting the Uchiha fan on them, are you?”

“Oh, I’m sure Sasuke considers you as practically family, but we can get you the Uzumaki symbol if you prefer that.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Not that Naruto had anything against Sasuke’s clan symbol, and the sweater he’d borrowed from Charasuke was certainly comfortable. He just thought it would be a little strange to have it on his own clothes… though of course, everyone who wore the standard outfit carried the Uzumaki clan’s symbol on their clothes. Still. Clan stuff was sensitive, and he could only imagine the reactions if they managed to return home and he was covered in Uchiha fans.

“Well then, let’s get going,” Mikoto chirped, placing a hand on his shoulder and pushing him forwards. “It’ll take us a while to decide on designs and so on, so we really shouldn’t idle the time away here on the street!”

Designs? Naruto would be fine with a copy of his current jumpsuit, really, and he’d thought Sasuke could just have a couple more sets of the standard outfit. It really couldn’t be that much work, could it?

xxx

Sasuke had to admit, watching himself getting a massage was a lot less weird than it should be. And well, watching himself relax in the bubble pool was more of a treat than anything else. Call him self-absorbed, but he looked so pretty with steam curling his hair and water droplets running down his collarbones.

“Do you _have_ to stare at me?”

Of course, the glare kind of ruined the whole pretty-boy image, and he desperately wished he knew how to pull one off that was as sinister as his counterpart’s.

“I don’t _have_ to,” he replied, lips twitching at the corners. “But it’s better than staring at the ceiling or something.”

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you that it’s impolite to stare?”

Just because, Sasuke made sure to drag his eyes slowly up and down what was visible of the other Sasuke’s body, lingering on pert nipples.

If he had more shame in his body he might feel embarrassed, but considering that being a flirt was pretty much the only thing he had going for him lately he might as well enjoy himself.

“You’re assuming I listen to lecturing,” he shrugged, sinking lower into the hot water. There were some really nice bubbles hitting his spine, and he thought that maybe he should try and come here more often. “Besides, people always stare at me so I just started staring back at them.”

The other Sasuke – he really needed a better name for him – frowned at him, lip curling into a small but annoyed sneer.

“I really don’t think I’ll ever understand you,” he said, turning slightly so they weren’t face to face.

“Yeah, well. Can you ever truly understand another person?”

He meant it to come off as a light joke, but the way the other Sasuke seemed to mull it over indicated that he took it seriously.

“If you tell me that you and Naruto understand each other I think I’ll throw up, so please spare me.”

It was amusing how quickly Sasuke turned back to him, annoyed as he flicked some hair out of his eyes.

“Naruto doesn’t understand anything, least of all me,” he muttered, which was a bit surprising to Sasuke. “He’s just a dumb idiot who does whatever he wants.”

Maybe it was the steam in the air, but it was hard to miss the slight reddening of the other Sasuke’s cheeks as he leaned back against the tub.

“So like, he does you?”

“Does me?” The other Sasuke was frowning, like the innuendo went completely over his head.

“Just forget it, it was just a joke,” he said, trying to brush it off. Sometimes he forgot that he couldn’t make sex jokes with people who weren’t Sakura. She was definitely a bad influence on him.

“Explain.”

He couldn’t help himself. Slapping a hand over his mouth he tried his hardest not to laugh, but it was made difficult by the huffy look on the other’s face and the reaction he imagined he’d get if he did explain.

“You can be pretty annoying,” the other Sasuke continued, glaring at him again.

“I don’t know, you seem to like annoying guys,” he winked in reply, grinning openly now that his so called twin looked positively mortified.

“I don’t _like_ Naruto,” he claimed, which made Sasuke snort.

“You’ve been dating for a year, I don’t think you can really deny it.”

This made the other Sasuke snap his mouth shut, shoulders stiffening like he’d gotten caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“What?” he asked, but his counterpart merely gazed stubbornly into the water, eyebrow twitching just once. “You can’t tell me you two aren’t dating, hell you’re practically married!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the other Sasuke sneered. “Men can’t marry in Konoha.”

Sasuke stared at him, at the pained look in his eyes and the tension in his jaw.

“You… they can’t?”

A stiff shrug was all the answer he got, and he could feel a heavy lump forming in his stomach. Sure, there were people who didn’t like the idea of two men or two women being together in this world, but those were just _opinions_ , they couldn’t cut off someone’s rights to choose their own partner. What kind of scary place did that?

“So…” He licked his lips, feeling a small strain in his throat. “Were you forced to hide your relationship at home, or something?”

The other Sasuke sighed heavily, combing a hand through his hair in a tired move.

“We haven’t been together for a year, or I don’t know. Maybe we have. Maybe I always knew we would be eventually, if…” he trailed off, lost in thought, and there was an expression on his face that made him seem so much older, as if he’d already lived a whole lifetime comprised to eighteen years.

Sasuke folded his legs and hugged them to his chest, waiting with baited breath for a continuation. He felt so inexplicably _sad_ , thinking of what little things he knew about his alternate self.

He knew that he was strong, enough to force Menma out of Kyuubi mode with just one chidori.

He knew that his older brother was dead, and that he had his eyes.

He knew that he and Naruto had something special, something he could only dream of having with Menma.

He knew that he had cried when told that he could have his life, since Sasuke didn’t want it.

And, he knew that even though he was so strong, he’d been a construction worker for the past year, after a war had ended.

“Hey,” he started uncertainly, but the other Sasuke didn’t react. “I know I wasn’t that nice to you at first, and it’s not like I understand you at all, but we’re the same person, right?”

Still no reaction, so after sucking in a breath he slowly moved closer until their knees bumped, placing a tentative hand on the other Sasuke’s heat-flushed shoulder.

“If something’s bothering you, it’s okay to talk to me. I’m probably no good at giving advice, and it’s not like I’m strong enough to do much to help, but at least I know how to keep a secret.”

He got a glance this time, and a quiet little sigh.

“Or, you know, I’m okay with sharing Itachi. He’s pretty annoying but he’s not a terrible brother, I guess.”

“No,” the other Sasuke agreed, the corners of his lips twitching into what could resemble a rueful smile. “He’s got a long way to reach my Itachi’s level.”

“See? If your Konoha is so bad, just stay here! You can teach me all your techniques and I can, um…” He fumbled for something good to offer, slightly flustered when dark eyes watched him curiously. "I mean, I can do whatever you’d like me to,” he finished lamely.

“I can’t stay here,” his counterpart told him, averting his eyes again. “Even though I’d like to.”

“Why not? I mean, sure it’s a little weird that there’s two of us, but dad would be delighted to have someone take over his legacy in the police force.”

At this the other Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, shifting a bit so they weren’t sitting so close.

“What makes you think I’m interested in the police force?”

Sasuke shrugged, getting the hint and scooting backwards a little.

“Dad seems pretty pleased with you, and you seem like you don’t hate it. I mean, you’re kinda intimidating so you’d fit the role at least.”

“Well, there’s no point in speculating.”

Unsure of what to say, Sasuke gnawed on his thumb as he contemplated the other Sasuke’s carefully blank expression.

“I really need something to call you besides ‘the other Sasuke’ in my head,” he blurted out, figuring it was safer to change the topic.

“Uh-huh. That’s not really my problem, is it?”

“Oi.” Narrowing his eyes, he poked the other Sasuke’s cheek even though he received a glare for his efforts. “If I have to live with Charasuke, then you should just help out and think of something for yourself.”

“I don’t see what’s wrong with just Sasuke.”

“Because obviously it gets annoying when we’re the same person!”

“Then just decide on something you can call me in your head, it’s not like I care.”

Fidgeting a little, Sasuke tried to come up with something that wouldn’t get him either thrown across the room or ignored for the rest of the other Sasuke’s stay.

Naturally he came up empty-handed.

“Doesn’t Naruto have a nickname for you or something?” he asked, trying to recall if he’d heard one used.

“Sure.” The other Sasuke sounded amused now. “But it’s usually a variety of insults, like bastard or jerk.”

“Oh. I mean, he did want to call me ‘Pervy Sasuke’ so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Anyway, are we done here yet?” His counterpart had started looking increasingly grumpy, probably fed up with Sasuke’s constant questions. “I have training to do.”

“Um, you’re not allowed to train.”

The look he got was positively _chilling_.

“Fine, you’ll be my cover. You want to keep secrets? Don’t tell anyone we snuck off to train. _Especially_ don’t tell Naruto.”

Sasuke opened his mouth to object but found himself pulled out of the water and dragged towards the showers, his towel forgotten next to the tub.

“This is _such_ a bad idea,” he muttered to himself as they got dressed, wondering which was worse -Sasuke’s or Naruto’s wrath, because he was sure that no matter what he did now, one of them would be angry at him.

Maybe Naruto was slightly nicer?

“Let’s go,” the other Sasuke decided as soon as he’d finished putting on his clothes, leaving Sasuke to scramble with his shirt before hurrying after him.

 _I should just think of him as my evil twin_ , he thought as he apologized to his mother’s cousin by the entrance lobby as they left much earlier than they were supposed to.

If he was very lucky, his mother wouldn’t find out about this.

“Where’s the best secluded training ground?” his evil twin asked, and Sasuke was starting to wonder if he had any chance against _both_ Naruto and his mother.

“This way,” he sighed, figuring he might as well give up since he was going to get in trouble no matter what. “And if anyone finds out, you totally forced me into this.”

“Of course,” the other Sasuke readily agreed, heading in the direction he had nodded at, “no one tells me what I can and can’t do.”

The worst part was that Sasuke utterly, wholly believed him.

xxx

Mikoto sat back as old Takahiro took Naruto’s measurements, smiling inwardly at his slight embarrassment over the dolphin-patterned boxers he wore. Surely he must have borrowed those from Iruka, and she made a mental note to order some underwear and socks for both him and Sasuke later. As usual Takahiro took his time, limbs frail with age but steady and sure as the measuring tape was held this way and that to Naruto’s apparent annoyance.

She had assured him that this was the best tailor in the village, something made obvious simply by the fact that he was an Uchiha clan member. He _did_ make a face at Naruto’s colorful clothes however, being one for more traditional ninja colors. Honestly, Mikoto found it a little strange that Naruto would wear orange, unless it was true that he didn’t hide for anyone. Was he really that strong? Mikoto liked to think of herself as a good judge of strength, but Naruto was a bit of a wild card. He didn’t move with Sasuke’s grace that screamed ‘trained killer’, and he didn’t enter a room demanding respect; rather he seemed as if other people’s rank had no impact on him unless he wanted it to.

He was loud and brash, but also very sweet and thoughtful.

Of course, if she based her judgment on what Obito and Orochimaru had told her about the secretive boy then it was clear that Naruto was someone worthy of not only respect, but a healthy dose of caution as well. And considering how close Naruto and Sasuke were, it wasn’t strange that Sasuke hadn’t thought twice about taking on Menma even when he was using the Kyuubi’s power.

Now, on the other hand, she only felt like she was watching a young man like anyone else, twitching when the tape tickled him and making faces at Takahiro when he wasn’t looking in reply to his comments on how he should be using more lotion to keep his skin in better condition.

Once the measuring was done she picked up the heavy clothing catalogues from a shelf and placed them on the high table to the side of the room. Takahiro left to get some samples, Naruto sighing in obvious relief once he was gone.

“That guy was a little creepy,” he said with a small shudder, curiously coming closer when Mikoto set the first catalogue onto a supportive stand. “What are these?”

“Examples of clothes and patterns, let’s see if there’s something that catches your eye, okay?”

Naruto sent her an unsure look, cheeks flushing a bit when she waited for him to say something.

“It’s just, you really don’t need to do anything special for us. I’m sure Sasuke’s fine with the standard outfit, and maybe some t-shirts and pants for training. And this jumpsuit is fine for me so…”

“Oh nonsense,” she brushed him off with, “of course you should take the opportunity to find something you like! My clan might be a little traditional in our choices but Takahiro tailors for lots of clans, so there’s a little of everything in here.”

Naruto had started flipping through the pages of the thick book, taking in the different designs for sweaters and shirts with wide eyes. There really was a little of everything in there, from simple t-shirts to elaborate formal wear and form-fitted fighting gear. There was another catalogue for pants, and one for patterns and color designs only. She’d skipped the one with dresses and skirts, figuring they weren’t precisely Naruto’s style.

“See anything you like?” she asked after a couple of minutes, noting how Naruto flushed again and ducked his head.

“There really is a lot,” he mumbled, and Mikoto supposed he felt a little exposed with her hanging off his shoulder like this.

“Just take your time, I’ll sit over here and look through some stuff myself,” she told him reassuringly and headed back for her chair.

She might as well use the time productively, and picked up another book filled with things like arm protectors and leg pieces. Sasuke (her actual son, that is) had always loved these as a child and she was thinking of getting something for her friend’s daughter.

Now and then she glanced over towards Naruto, noticing how some pages he skipped entirely while others were pondered over, fingers skimming the paper back and forth. Sometimes he would flip back a few pages, probably to compare different versions of similar pieces. Takahiro arrived when Naruto seemed almost done with the first catalogue, dropping off sample shirts and pants that could easily be modified to a perfect fit by skilled hands.

It took Naruto the better part of an hour to go through all three catalogues, but eventually he shut the final one with a definite smack and turned towards her.

“There’s just way too much to choose from,” he declared, crossing his arms and sending an annoyed look towards the books. “But I found some that Sasuke will probably like.”

“And did you find something for yourself?”

He hesitated at the question, weighing on his heels and tipping his head back and forth as he thought.

“Maybe…” he cleared his throat, looking torn. “But I really am fine with something simple, honestly.”

“Well,” she told him, standing up to join him by the table. “Personally I wouldn’t be fine with that. I have a reputation to maintain, you know? And what would Kushina say if I dressed her precious son in second rate clothing?”

When Naruto gaped at her she smiled brightly, patting the book containing all the different pattern designs.

“Please show me everything that interested you.”

She made sure to take notes of everything that Naruto pointed out, suggesting clothes that could fit or where he could place the designs. She was in no way an expert, but Takahiro always got so annoyed with customers who didn’t know what they wanted. They also went through the pile of sample clothes, comparing them to the catalogued ones and discussing fabrics. Once Naruto got over his hesitation he seemed more than eager to experiment with different things, though he was a lot more assertive when it came to suggestions for Sasuke.

“No, there’s no way the bastard would like that. I was thinking something like this – or actually this one might be better. He prefers it when the collar is loose so I have no idea why he keeps insisting on wearing the standard shirt.”

It went on like that for a while, Takahiro checking in on them now and then to throw in suggestions of his own. When Mikoto finally felt like they had decided on the basics at least, another head popped into the doorway.

“Ah, Mikoto-san?”

It was Chihiro, one of the girls she knew worked at the spa she’d sent both Sasukes off to in the morning.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, well, it’s just that they left early, Haruka-san told me to let you know…”

“Hah, I bet Sasuke got bored,” Naruto commented, rolling his eyes at a most likely imagined scenario.

“Any idea where they went?”

Chihiro shook her head, twirling a dark lock of hair as she snuck looks at Naruto. Mikoto supposed that she was only too eager to see the second dimension traveler with her own eyes. It didn’t hurt that he was only wearing a pair of loose sweats meant for training either.

“Oh, I can find them,” Naruto said confidently, not seeming very concerned over the fact that Sasuke had apparently gone missing. “Not that I know if Charasuke is still with him, but yeah.”

Mikoto’s eyebrows rose.

“Charasuke?”

Naruto caught himself, biting his lip in what was an obvious attempt at containing laughter.

“Just a nickname Shisui made for him so we can separate them…”

“Hm,” she said, not so sure how she felt about her son being referred to as a flirt. “Let’s finish up here first and then we can see what they’re up to.”

While she might have used the words ‘finish up’, it took them at least two hours to work out the details and she’d have to come back the next day for approval. Naruto seemed pleased though, if a little worn out by the bickering he’d done with Takahiro. The old man still didn’t approve of his color choices but had eventually backed down once he realized that agreeing would save him a headache.

“Aah, finally some fresh air!” Naruto groaned as they left the shop, stretching out kinks in his back. “I’m getting kind of hungry.”

“Mm, we can have lunch after picking up Sasuke and Sasuke… you know, I’m not sure I approve of your nickname but it does make things easier, doesn’t it?”

A grin split Naruto’s face as he eagerly nodded his agreement, a little skip to his step as they made their way in a direction Mikoto supposed at least one of them were in.

“I’m waiting for someone to come up with a fun nickname for my Sasuke, I mean he’d _never_ agree to something I call him so it’ll have to be someone else’s idea.”

“Perhaps not Shisui’s,” Mikoto said, amused despite herself. “Are you sure they’re this way?”

“Oh yeah, I can totally sense him.”

Mikoto gave him a questioning look that he shrugged at, but there was something about the way he avoided eye contact that told her there was more to it.

“I have some sensor abilities,” was his explanation, though Mikoto had to wonder what kind of sensor abilities would only allow you to sense one person’s presence.

“Mhm,” she hummed, tapping her chin in thought. “A hands-on guy with some sensor abilities, and the Kyuubi to boot. The official report from the last time you were here doesn’t state much, but you can use your father’s rasengan, right? And of course, his teleportation technique.”

“Yeah. Well I couldn’t teleport last time, I just learnt that pretty recently.”

He had also told her while discussing clothes that he preferred close combat and needed sturdy fabric that didn’t tear easily, but that the loose fit was just a personal preference and not for hiding weapons and the like. Surprisingly enough he’d debated on a kid’s frog pattern for a t-shirt, letting slip that he’d trained for Jiraiya himself and made a contract with the toads.

Even if she couldn’t be certain until she watched him in action, Mikoto could tell that he would prove a difficult challenge if they ever had to fight him. A ninja who didn’t need to hide, either himself or his weapons, was either incredibly dumb or simply too strong to care. It was possible that Naruto was a little of each; not dumb but impatient perhaps, with far too many surprises up his sleeve.

He walked in quick strides, leading them straight towards the edge of the village without checking if she was keeping up. His face didn’t show any particular concern, at least not until they reached one of the smaller gates in the wall where a sign reading ‘Training grounds’ hung above it.

“Did he…? Oh who am I kidding, of _course_ that bastard would go train while I was busy!”

Naruto scowled at the gate, but there was a tension to his jaw that spoke of more than simple anger.

“Didn’t he listen to what I told him?” she sighed, leading the way now that she knew where they were headed. “He’s going to hurt himself at this rate.”

“He’s completely stupid and never listens,” Naruto muttered, absentmindedly rubbing his chest. “But he’s not so dumb that he’ll hurt himself. That’s more my thing, to be honest.”

Mikoto hummed, recalling Orochimaru’s concerns from last night. Even though she had reminded both Sasukes this morning to under no circumstances do anything more strenuous than relax, it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. Maybe she would have to take measures.

As they neared the training grounds she contemplated what strategy to use when confronting the two boys. Maybe threats wouldn’t work that well, and she should just let it slip this time? Then again, Sasuke was going on a mission and needed to be in top condition for it. The only problem was that he’d be sent off on it whether he rested or not, and he most likely knew that already.

“They’re behind those trees,” Naruto suddenly told her, and she put a hand out to stop him from walking over.

“Let’s see what they’re doing before we let them know we’re here.”

Naruto gave her a dubious look but nodded, following her lead as she took great care to hide her presence, approaching the trees and the small clearing behind them. She had to admit it was a good choice of place, considering it was rather run down and unpopular, while still providing decent cover from the road. Soon enough they could hear voices, distinguishable only from the fact that one sounded angry and the other sounded, well, angri _er_.

“Are you going to train or are you just going to sit there?”

“Fuck you.”

“You already said that.”

“Well this time I really _mean_ it!”

“You’re being ridiculous, it’s only been a couple hours! You _can’t_ be tired already.”

“Easy for you to say, you haven’t been doing the same move for two hours straight without even taking any breaks!”

Mikoto shared a questioning look with Naruto, motioning for them to try and move closer.

“Oh haven’t I? I’ve been forced to stand here for two hours and correct your mistakes, _that_ is tiring. How do you think I learnt this move anyway? By whining to my teacher?!”

The answer was too quiet for them to hear, but it was starting to become obvious which of the voices belonged to which Sasuke.

“What was that?”

“You heard me.”

“Clearly I didn’t if I’m asking you to repeat it.”

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’m taking a break.”

“It’s been _two hours_! How the hell are you exhausted already! What were you going to do if you had to fight someone, just ask them to take a break so you can catch your breath?”

“Shut up! There’s no way I can learn it today anyway! It’s impossible!”

“Unless you remember to straighten your back and angle your knees properly, then yes, it’ll definitely be impossible. I’m expecting you to have it perfected once I return from the mission.”

“Are you insane? There’s no way I could do that.”

“Stop saying it’s impossible. Nothing’s possible unless you work for it.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re like, a genius or something.”

Silence fell suddenly, and Mikoto frowned as she snuck even closer, enough so that she could climb a tree and see the clearing from its top. Her son was sitting on the ground, wearing his telltale purple jacket that was now smudged with dirt, while the other Sasuke stood above him with crossed arms.

“They’re really fighting, huh?” Naruto whispered, having joined her so quietly she barely noticed, and that was saying something for a ninja who claimed he wasn’t meant for stealth.

“You wanted me to train you.” Sasuke’s voice was calmer now, thoughtful rather than annoyed. “And I agreed to it, but I’m not teaching you chidori unless you can master a basic move such as this. You can make it in the four or five days before the mission is done.”

“I can’t.”

“You _can_.”

They glared at each other, neither appearing to back down.

“Look, why don’t we make this even? You learn how to do it and I do something you decide.”

“Anything?”

Her son had perked up at this, though he still sounded apprehensive to the suggestion.

“As long as it’s reasonable.”

More silence, and then Sasuke got to his feet so they were face to face.

“Tell Naruto you like him.”

There was a small gasp by her side, Naruto seeming to struggle with different colors on his face after hearing the demand.

“Why.”

“Why not? You clearly do, don’t you think he deserves to hear it? It’s unbelievable to me that you still deny it after a whole year of dating. This isn’t _your_ Konoha, you don’t need to hide. Sure it’s not perfect, but you won’t get in trouble for it.”

“You’re actually serious.”

“Obviously! If saying it is so impossible for you, don’t expect me to practice for even a second while you’re gone!”

“This is stupid. _You’re_ the one who wanted me to teach you all my techniques!”

“Am I hearing this right? You can’t do it? It’s impossible, is that it?”

Mikoto swore she could hear Sasuke (the one that wasn’t her son, even though he kind of was too – and maybe Naruto was right and they did need nicknames) gritting his teeth all the way up in the tree, but then he turned his face up at them and _glared_ at Naruto.

“Get down here, dobe. I know you’re listening.”

So he knew the whole time? Her own Sasuke looked as surprised as she felt, gaping at Naruto as he jumped into the clearing.

“You’ve got stuff to explain,” Naruto declared hotly, and Mikoto wondered how she ended up listening in on so much drama.

“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I like you.”

“Okay that was the shittiest confession I’ve ever heard,” Naruto complained, turning his nose up in disgust.

“Like you’ve ever heard a confession before!”

“No, I have to agree with Naruto. That wasn’t good at all.”

“Well you didn’t specify!”

“Oh come on, you have to do it properly! Cradle his face in your hands, gaze _deep_ into his eyes and tell him he’s the sun and you’re the moon and-“

“Do you _mind_?”

Mikoto decided it was time to step in before someone ended up in a hospital again.

“Boys,” she called, jumping down to the ground and jogging the last bit before reaching them. “Don’t you think we should save the confessions for a more private setting?”

Three faces turned bright red, both Sasukes looking surprised to see her. This raised a couple interesting questions, but she figured she could deal with those later.

“I suggest we all go get some lunch, maybe _relax_ a little like we were supposed to?”

At least her son had the grace to look vaguely ashamed of his actions. Still, she pulled him in by the shoulders and placed a kiss to his temple.

“Maybe a shower is in order?” she asked him, keeping her smile intact when he rolled his eyes.

“I’m covered in dirt.”

“Yes, I can see that. Why don’t you run ahead and then meet us for sushi? Oh, and I don’t mind helping you train for a couple of days, if you’d like.”

“No,” he quickly replied, most probably out of sheer stubbornness.

He did leave after one last calculating glance towards Naruto and Sasuke, who were both very busy communicating with each other through glares and gestures.

“Sasuke?” she said softly once it was just the three of them left.

“Yes?”

“I understand that you mean well, but please don’t break my son, he’s very important to me.”

“Of course. I understand.”

“That said,” she continued, turning her back on them to lead the way. “It’s good for him to feel some pressure once in a while. He’s kept his head in the clouds for too long, feel free to bring him back to earth.”

She could tell that Sasuke was startled by the silence that followed her statement, but rather than offer any further input she merely kept walking, hoping things would work out in the end.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously can't think of a good nickname for Sasuke. I mean, do they even have the word emo in this universe?? 
> 
> Anyway, just how is Sasuke going to make up for his shitty confession, huh? At least he took a huge leap in saying the words, even if it was just out of spite lol. Poor Charasuke didn't think he had it in him, haha. 
> 
> Okay I better go to bed before I write something stupid... hope you enjoyed~


	32. The worst idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're getting a very long chapter this time, and I'd like to dedicate it to allieva-panda for being such a sweet little sweetie today. Thank you for [drawing me](https://allieva-panda.tumblr.com/post/146890517198/fangirlandiknowit101-this-is-like-a-2015-bithday) (!!!) and for continuously encouraging me with your comments. Happy belated birthday, this chapter is all yours<3
> 
> ...don't let the title discourage you though... 
> 
> I promised myself I'd update on Monday but it is now ten past midnight on Tuesday and I wonder how I'll manage to wake up in the morning for work. Oh well. 
> 
> We're closing in on the two-year anniversary for this story... incredible. Let's hope I can update lots before then, yeah? Enjoy!

Naruto couldn’t say that lunch had been pleasant, but it hadn’t been bad either. Charasuke had sulked his way through most of it, and Sasuke had only replied properly when it was Mikoto asking questions. He had to admit it was a little amusing to see them both so annoyed at each other, since it was obvious that they were friends now. Even if he wasn’t sure of what to think of Charasuke he supposed he was mostly harmless, at least without Menma’s company. Though honestly someone should inform him what a great honor it was to practice with Sasuke, because he never wanted to teach stuff without getting anything in return (usually Naruto had to clean or go grocery shopping for him, so he had decided after a couple of times to just learn from watching even if it took him longer). Sasuke didn’t even _like_ sharing his techniques.

It wasn’t that Naruto was jealous or anything, but they had barely managed to train together in the past weeks and he was used to doing it at least once a day. A guy has needs, right?

“Alright boys,” Mikoto said after leading them back to her house. “It’s time for everyone to get some proper rest.”

“It’s like three in the afternoon,” Charasuke muttered, but settled for pouting when Mikoto sent him a look.

“I suggest we all relax for an hour or so, and then I’d like us to meet outside in the backyard. Naruto and Sasuke, you can take Itachi’s room since he’s out.”

She didn’t seem to think that any further explanations were needed, promptly sending them off up the stairs. Charasuke gave them an eye roll as he headed for his own room, slamming the door just a tad bit too loud. Apparently that was enough to warrant a small noise of disapproval from Sasuke, but Naruto had already forgotten about the guy the moment he closed the door.

Instead his eyes traced Sasuke’s features, the faint tension of his jaw and shoulders, the slight frown on his face. He could tell simply by the way he avoided eye contact that Sasuke had either done some training before Naruto showed up, or expected some backlash for his supposed confession.

Maybe a bit of both. Either way Naruto was going to find out exactly what they’d been doing and then make an attempt to have Sasuke agree that a more heartfelt confession was in order.

Just the thought of hearing Sasuke tell him in words had his heart speeding up fast, and he licked his suddenly dry lips as they entered Itachi’s room and closed the door behind them.

“Well, this is a mess,” Sasuke deadpanned, and for a second Naruto thought he was talking about something other than the stacks of scrolls and heaps of clothes on the floor.

“At least the bed looks fine,” he answered, sitting down on it and bouncing a couple of times.

“I’m guessing these are Shisui’s things,” Sasuke continued with an irritated flick of hair, though he did join Naruto by the edge of the bed.

They sat there in silence for a minute or so, Naruto trying to come up with something to say. He knew that if he asked about training it would only start an argument, and he didn’t feel like arguing. He wanted to cuddle, maybe kiss a bit. In a dream scenario, Sasuke would push him down on the bed and whisper into his ear how he’d missed him, though in reality something like that would probably freak him out a little.

Sasuke wasn’t an affectionate person, not in a romantic or even friendly sense of the word. But there _were_ things that showed he cared, and Naruto wondered how far he could push the limit of these things. Maybe if he pushed long enough, one day Sasuke wouldn’t hesitate to talk about and show his feelings.

Shaking his head he broke out of his thoughts. Just because Sasuke had kissed him some and allowed him to cuddle in bed last night it didn’t mean he could be greedy and expect _everything_ all at once.

 _Well you always were thirsty for his affection_.

 _His attention_ , Naruto corrected the fox, crossing his arms and ignoring Sasuke’s sidelong glance.

_Brat, I haven’t lived inside your head your entire life for nothing. If I say it’s affection then damn right it is._

Gritting his teeth, Naruto tuned out the voice in his head. Kurama had been way too meddlesome lately. Just because he was right most of the time didn’t mean Naruto wanted to hear it! The jerk probably sat in his nasty cave laughing at him all the time, so rude!

“Do I even want to know,” Sasuke said drily, succeeding in bringing him back to his surroundings.

“Kurama likes talking bullshit,” he muttered, then fell down backwards on the bed with a loud groan. “At least the others didn’t leave enough chakra to talk. Imagine having nine annoying chakra beasts inside your head! One is bad enough, thank you very much.”

“At least it comes with a lot of fighting power,” Sasuke observed, leaning on one hand to stare down at him. “I’d say some annoying comments are a small price to pay.”

“Bleh,” was all Naruto said, sticking his tongue out.

“Idiot,” Sasuke muttered.

Another round of silence. Naruto plucked at the sheets, staring at Sasuke’s profile while Sasuke stared at a wall.

“…cuddle with me?”

“No.”

Naruto tapped fingers against the mattress, pretending to think seriously about something.

“That mission of yours… you’ll be looking for a missing nin, right?”

“You little shit,” Sasuke hissed, turning towards him.

Grinning in success – Sasuke always picked the lesser of two evils, and talking was _always_ the bigger of the two – Naruto scooted up the bed and held his arms out demandingly.

“Come here,” he added when Sasuke was still reluctant to move. “You’re supposed to relax, you know.”

“I can relax on my own,” Sasuke insisted with a scowl, but he did move close enough for Naruto to grab him and pull him down by his side.

“Hmm, let’s just- move down a little.” Naruto readjusted his position, maneuvering a very grumpy Sasuke until he was properly on his side with one arm and one leg over Naruto’s body, cheek resting on his shoulder. “Comfortable?”

Sasuke grunted but only shifted slightly before appearing to give in to his fate. Bristling with happiness, Naruto stuck his nose into Sasuke’s hair and inhaled, tightening his grip around him.

“You smell like you’ve trained,” he mumbled, taking another sniff for confirmation.

“It was just some warm-up exercises,” Sasuke argued, huffing at the accusation.

“Ha! You think warming up is sprinting at full speed for ten minutes.”

“Tch. Like you disagree.”

Naruto hummed, smiling despite the conversation. Sasuke was warm and firm against him, and slowly but surely he could feel the extra beat between them sync until it was in tune with their hearts. It was such a calming feeling, an undeniable safeness that nothing could shake. _An hour is much too short_ , he thought, closing his eyes to enjoy how Sasuke’s soft hair tickled his nose and mouth.

He didn’t want to think about the mission, but he wondered how Sasuke felt about it. If he was worried, or if he even knew the details yet. Naruto wasn’t concerned over him getting physically injured, but this _was_ Sasuke’s first Konoha mission in years, and with his alternate dimension dad leading it. It could be a piece of cake, or it could be a trap of some sort. They still didn’t know the reason for being here, after all.

“Hey, Sasuke?” he mumbled, drawing circles into the bare skin on Sasuke’s arm.

Sasuke didn’t reply but tilted his head minutely to show he was listening, and Naruto couldn’t help but press his lips to his hairline before continuing.

“You’ll be careful on the mission, right?”

“Why wouldn’t I be.”

“Uh, because you never are? Remember at the chuunin exam when we had to pick a tunnel in the mountain and you just ran into one and almost got crushed by rocks?”

“The best way to find a trap is to spring it.”

“Bastard, I mean it. We have no idea what might happen.”

“I thought we were supposed to relax for an hour.”

“Yeah?”

“So why aren’t you shutting up and letting me rest, moron.”

Biting his lip, Naruto weighed the pros and cons of trying to continue the conversation. Considering that conversation with Sasuke was _always_ a high-risk mission however, he figured it wouldn’t hurt.

“I guess I’m a bit worried,” he admitted quietly, picking at the sleeve of Sasuke’s t-shirt. It was dark blue, and soft, and he wondered if he’d borrowed it from Itachi. “Who knows what could happen?”

Sasuke was silent, long enough that Naruto  heaved a sigh and tugged at his hair.

“Oi, why aren’t you replying?”

“I just didn’t see the point in this conversation.”

“Such a bastard,” Naruto muttered, taking his revenge by hugging Sasuke too tight against his side to be comfortable – and yet Sasuke didn’t complain. “Would it really kill you to admit it if you’re worried?”

“I don’t see the point in talking about feelings when it’s silly. Nothing will happen.”

Pushing Sasuke to the side, Naruto turned to straddle his hips. His hands gripped Sasuke’s biceps, and he didn’t understand why the reply upset him so much.

“You and I have a history of bad luck,” he said seriously, frowning when dark eyes averted his gaze. “And it’s rare for you to be this optimistic.”

Sasuke huffed a small breath, warm air washing over Naruto’s right hand.

“What do you want me to say?” he asked, sounding irritated. “That I think I might die? That’s been a possibility every day of my life, I don’t see how this is any different than business as usual.”

Naruto tightened his grip, throat closing up.

“It’s different because-!”

When he didn’t continue, Sasuke glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, pensive as he considered the odd pause.

“Because?”

“You know.”

“Enlighten me.”

Naruto gritted his teeth, knowing Sasuke was only baiting him because he most likely had something he wanted to say about it but didn’t want to start. And of course he knew. He was a bastard but he wasn’t dumb, nor was he oblivious even if he tried hard sometimes.

He decided to change strategies.

“It’s different because you seem to like it here, and I don’t want something to ruin that.”

As Sasuke’s eyes widened in shock, Naruto lifted a hand to gently brush a few strands of soft hair from his forehead.

“You’re my most important person, more than anything else. I would have worried this much even if we hadn’t kissed.”

He could tell he’d hit the nail when Sasuke’s eyebrow twitched, and he resolutely turned his face to the side again, Naruto’s fingers catching in his hair.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Of course not,” Naruto mocked, rolling his eyes when Sasuke slapped his hand away from his face. “Look, this is weird and new for me, too. I kind of had to grab my brain and shake it around until all the stupid thoughts fell out-“

“As if you could get rid of all of them.”

“-but I’m kind of _really_ into you so I’m not gonna pretend I’m not. It just took me a while to figure out that you’re sort of hot. For a bastard.”

Sasuke had stiffened in discomfort, slowly turning his face back up to give Naruto a look of pure suffering. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Sasuke dropped a line about how he’d have preferred to act as one of Orochimaru’s test subjects rather than discuss _feelings_ with Naruto.

“Are you done?” Sasuke asked, exasperated.

“No.”

Throwing his head dramatically against the mattress – and what a shame no one would ever believe him that Sasuke had his dramatic moments – Sasuke groaned in frustration.

“Well, _I’m_ done, so you either shut up or work on an explanation to my mother for being thrown headfirst out the window.”

“It’s like you’re actively trying to _fight_ showing emotions, dammit!” Naruto slammed his palms against Sasuke’s collarbones, leaning down until their noses almost touched. “I’m right here, okay?! I’m listening! You can tell me what’s going on inside that jerk-brain of yours!”

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, Naruto breathing hard against Sasuke’s lips, and Sasuke’s expression unreadable. Then Sasuke closed his eyes for a long moment, sucking in a deep breath before he opened them to give Naruto a tired look.

“I don’t like talking about my feelings, so I won’t. And it’s honestly none of your business unless I decide to share.”

Naruto’s breathing slowed, until it was barely there at all. His fingers flexed against Sasuke’s shirt, his gaze lowering to somewhere mid-chest. Everything he’d thought to say had vanished, like a failed Rasengan. Poof, just like that.

“Then what should I do,” he whispered, swallowing against the thick lump lodged deep inside his throat. “It hurts.”

Pale hands rose to tangle in his hair, pulling him down again until he was forced to lean on his forearms.

“Surprisingly, not everything revolves around you,” Sasuke told him, and despite his calm tone Naruto flinched. “Maybe I need to think about this on my own. Just because I supposedly feel my emotions clearer, it doesn’t mean I’m okay with talking about them.”

While Naruto could understand that Sasuke wasn’t precisely a sharing type of person, it still bothered him. So maybe he was greedy, what was he supposed to do about it?! Sasuke was everything to him, and while he had dismissed the mission previously as something not to worry about, it now hit him full force that Sasuke would be gone for days, facing some unknown enemy, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He drew in a shaky breath, smoothing out Sasuke’s t-shirt where it had bunched underneath his anxious fingers. They weren’t twelve anymore, and Sasuke had come back to him. Sasuke liked him. So why was he riding such a shitty rollercoaster right now, happy one second and terribly sad the next? It didn’t make sense.

“Tell me I’m yours,” he forced out, mouth working desperately around the thickness of his throat. “Tell me you want me. Promise me you’ll come back.”

He’d ducked his head into the crook of Sasuke’s neck, breathing in his scent as if he didn’t already have it committed to memory. His whole body felt like it was trembling, expecting Sasuke to dismiss him but craving the validation, begging for it in the deepest, most secret parts of his mind.

It wasn’t enough that he knew, that he suspected, that he could suppose.

It didn’t matter that he could send a clone to trail after him.

Honestly, it maybe didn’t even matter that Sasuke was going on a mission. It was more that he _could_ go, that he would _want_ to go and leave Naruto behind, that this world could offer something that he couldn’t…

“Idiot,” Sasuke exhaled against his ear, fingers combing gently through his hair. “What are you so worked up for?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, shifting until he lay comfortably on top of Sasuke, feeling his chest lift with every breath. “So much is going on… I just have bad feeling.”

“Since when.”

“Well since now! I don’t know!” His fingers dug into Sasuke’s shoulders, tearing at fabric. “I’m just upset.”

Though, even as he said it, Sasuke’s fingers rubbed little circles into his scalp that effectively calmed him down. Sasuke might not say anything, but he had this. He had Sasuke’s warmth, Sasuke’s breaths against the side of his neck, Sasuke’s heartbeat to pace his own with.

“I’ve told you before,” Sasuke started, surprising Naruto a little. “I’m not going anywhere except back to Konoha with you.”

“Really?”

He hated how small his voice sounded, how pathetic he felt, yet so perfectly safe in Sasuke’s arms.

“Really,” Sasuke confirmed with a sigh, fingertips sliding lower to brush up and down the back of his neck instead. “And you’ll survive a couple days without me.”

Naruto wasn’t sure, but decided not to say anything else. At this rate he might start to cry, and embarrass himself completely. He settled for burrowing his nose deeper into Sasuke’s neck, sneaking his hands up Sasuke’s sleeves to warm them against his bare skin.

It was easy to pretend that everything was fine if he concentrated only on Sasuke, and ignored the heavy feeling in his stomach. He really would have preferred it if the enemy had showed up right away like last time, not left them hanging in uncertainty like this.

“I can tell you one thing,” Sasuke murmured into his temple, fingers tapping at his jaw until Naruto lifted his head. “Close your eyes.”

Stomach flipping over itself, Naruto licked his lips and closed his eyes where he hovered over Sasuke. He didn’t know what to expect but didn’t want to hope too much, eyelashes fluttering to sneak a peek at Sasuke when nothing had happened for two seconds.

“I said close them,” Sasuke complained, thumbs gently pressing over his eyelids, and Naruto wondered how it was possible that something small like that could bring a smile to his lips, even if it was a little hesitant.

He waited, impatiently, about to tell Sasuke he should just _tell_ him already – when the faintest of touches brushed across his lips.

“You might be an idiot,” Sasuke whispered, thumbs caressing down his cheeks and settling on his jaw, sending rushes of warmth down Naruto’s throat and chest. “And incredibly annoying sometimes, and-“

“ _Sasuke_.”

“-all kinds of _tiring_ , but I would never leave you. I _couldn’t_ leave, so get that through your thick skull and stop worrying about it already.”

Naruto opened his eyes, and Sasuke met them, steady and sure with a hint of a glare. There was something painful lodged in his throat, stopping him from letting out a flood of emotion that Sasuke wasn’t ready to accept yet. The question was, if _Naruto_ was ready to accept it yet?

It was easy to admit that Sasuke was his most important person, slightly less but not too difficult to admit he felt attracted to him, wanted to hold him and be close to him any way he could. Whenever they kissed he felt like he’d never be able to let go; even just the thought of it made him shiver with want.

But Sasuke had left once, not precisely of his own volition, and Naruto didn’t know what he’d do if Sasuke grew tired of him.

“You’re thinking too much,” Sasuke sighed, pinching his cheeks. “I’m not sure I agree that this whole kissing business is a good idea, but _you_ started it.”

Sitting up, Naruto rubbed at the pain in his cheeks, staring at a pile of scrolls rather than Sasuke’s face.

“I know I did,” he muttered, wishing he could be calm about this when in reality he felt torn between delirious happiness and mind numbing fear.

Fear of Sasuke leaving, fear of what people would say, fear of going back home to face reality again.

He didn’t want to think about it, desperately wishing things were as easy as a simple kiss.

“Is it… a _bad_ idea?” he asked quietly, playing with the hem of Sasuke’s t-shirt and trying to keep his breaths steady.

He could feel the weight of Sasuke’s stare on him, peeling off layer after layer to dig underneath his skin, no doubt finding everything he didn’t want to voice out loud and picking him apart.

“All your ideas are bad,” Sasuke murmured, then hesitantly sat up, though not pushing Naruto off his lap. “Some are just more troublesome than others.”

“And this one?”

Sasuke was close enough that their noses almost touched, Naruto closing his eyes again and forcing a breath out of his lungs.

“The worst,” Sasuke said, and grabbed his head to mash their lips together, swallowing Naruto’s surprised gasp. “Idiotic even by your standards,” he added, glaring fiercely before kissing him _again_.

“Oh,” Naruto let out between kisses, because Sasuke _didn’t stop_ , leaving him breathless and buzzing with warmth. “I kind of like it.”

“Obviously,” Sasuke muttered against his lips, his dark gaze captivating, pinning him down with its intensity and… was that _want_? “You’ve always had a thing for terrible ideas.”

“I have a thing for _you_ ,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around Sasuke’s neck and grinning wide at the very faint pink across the bridge of his nose.

“Shut up,” Sasuke hissed at him, narrowing his eyes but not objecting when Naruto leaned in again to melt into another breathtaking kiss.

An hour didn’t feel nearly long enough.

xxx

Sasuke wasn’t sure if he was happy that Charasuke had knocked on the door to let them know it was time to meet up, or if he absolutely loathed the fact that he now stood in the cool garden instead of lying curled around Naruto in bed.

What Naruto thought about it was written all over his face, like he didn’t even bother to pretend that whatever Mikoto wanted was interesting. Sasuke, at least, had the decency to ignore the urge to teleport out of there, swatting Naruto’s hand away when it tugged on the hem of his shirt.

Honestly, he felt slightly better after admitting to himself (and Naruto) that kissing wasn’t terrible. He still didn’t like how it made him _feel,_ or how touching Naruto’s skin lit his fingertips on fire. He’d even had to double-check that they weren’t _literally_ on fire, because when Naruto’s mouth had discovered a new skill – attacking Sasuke’s neck, that is – it hadn’t just been his fingertips that burned.

The small shiver making its way down his spine wasn’t entirely the fault of a chilly breeze, and as Mikoto stepped into view from around a corner he could only hope that his lips weren’t as swollen as they felt.

“Did you have a nice nap?” Mikoto asked, stopping in front of them with a neutral look that turned knowing at the sight of Naruto’s bright red face.

Sasuke coughed.

Charasuke heaved a long-suffering sigh.

“Yes!” Naruto squawked, taking a step closer to Sasuke as if seeking cover.

“I see,” she smiled, laughter dancing in her eyes. “Well, let’s get going.”

She turned in the direction she came from, tilting her head to indicate that they should follow. Sasuke noticed a grimace forming on Charasuke’s face, one hand absentmindedly rubbing at a spot on his left side through his hoodie. He _would_ feel bad, but it was impossible to shake off the surprise that Charasuke’s stamina and pain tolerance was so low.

Contemplating this, he almost walked into Naruto’s back when he stopped just around the corner of the house.

“Where are we going?” Naruto asked as Mikoto held up a door that looked like it had been built into the ground, darkness waiting below a set of stone stairs.

“The secret underground training hall,” Mikoto replied, smiling again. “Only the Uchiha family has access to it.”

Naruto blinked at her, unsure of what she meant, but dutifully heading down the steps when she gently pushed him forwards with a hand on the small of his back.

“It’s not a very well-kept secret,” she added loftily as she followed him, Sasuke going next with Charasuke behind to complete the group. “Though it doesn’t mean others can come and go as they please. But we usually lend it to others when they need to work on powerful techniques, or ones we’d rather not have any evidence for on the open training grounds.”

She must have pressed a button somewhere, because the stone ceiling above them lit up with small lamps, providing enough light to see a tunnel stretching out in front of them. The ground sloped gently downwards, the air becoming damper and colder the further they walked.

After a few minutes of silent walking they reached a dead end, or rather what looked to be a thick wall of rocks blocking the path. Naruto stepped to the side but Mikoto didn’t hesitate, tapping one of the rocks twice with a chakra-enclosed fist, and the wall shimmered before disappearing completely.

“It’s protected by illusions,” Mikoto explained, as if it wasn’t obvious. “This was all built by Madara after the tailed beasts were captured, I think he intended to practice fighting them.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Fight them for practice?

“He never did because they were sealed away, but this place is still designed to withhold their chakra. Though I’m sure this isn’t surprising to you?”

“Huh, I’ve been to a place like this!” Naruto exclaimed. “But it was more like I had to fight Kurama inside me…”

Two pairs of curious eyes landed on Naruto, who seemed lost in thought as he trailed off at the end of his explanation.

“Kurama is the kyuubi’s name,” Sasuke offered, though Mikoto only smiled at this.

“I know,” she said simply, turning to lead the way again. “And we do lend this place to jinchuuriki who need to practice control.”

Sasuke frowned at this, but refrained from commenting. Instead he was distracted by Naruto bumping shoulders with him, sharing a look. At least it seemed that Naruto had finally figured out that he was expected to show some of his power.

 _What do I do?_ Naruto’s look said, and Sasuke shrugged in reply. It wasn’t like they could do much else than see what Mikoto had planned. A glance over his shoulder told him Charasuke was still sulking, slouching with hands deep in his pockets and hair still messy from his nap.

Sasuke hoped he never looked like that.

“This way,” Mikoto told them, veering off to the right when the tunnel split in two.

“What’s in the other direction?” Naruto asked, curious as always.

“The Hokage tower,” Mikoto told him off-handedly, “and the interrogation rooms.”

“Huh,” Naruto said, craning his neck to look back as if he could see anything from this angle. “That’s convenient.”

They turned a corner and the ground underneath their feet changed from stone plates to hard-packed dirt, muffling the sound of their feet. The downwards slope became more pronounced, but surprisingly the air became drier and slightly warmer. A few minutes later, after a couple more illusionary walls, the tunnel opened up to a vast cave. The walls were a sleek black, most definitely manmade, and the air switched from a little damp and stale to _heavy_.

“There are chakra oppressors built into the walls,” Mikoto said, clapping her hands together. “Alright, let’s head to the equipment room first. A little birdie told me you left your katana at home, Sasuke.”

Blinking away his surprise, Sasuke wriggled his fingers, eager to hold his favorite weapon again. Of course it would be a different one, but still better than nothing.

They headed over to one side of the cave, and Sasuke took notice of how the ceiling seemed to stretch above them much higher than he had expected it to, considering how the downwards slope hadn’t felt as steep as looking up did. Though it made sense, if it had been built to contain tailed beasts. It didn’t seem nearly as large as it would need to be, however, and he noticed Naruto scrunching up his nose at what might be spacious for them, but likely cramped for Kurama. Maybe it was to limit speed and movement.

 “Why don’t you pick whatever you like, Sasuke. The others will arrive in a bit but there’s no hurry.”

“Why are there more people coming?” Charasuke complained, leaning against the doorway to the small weapon’s room they’d entered. “I thought you just wanted to see Naruto show off a bit.”

“It’s easier to show off with an audience,” Mikoto shot back with a wink. “And I’m not the only one curious to see Naruto in action. I hope you don’t mind, Naruto?”

Like he could say no now. He did send another look Sasuke’s way before laughing embarrassedly, scratching his neck.

“Sure, I guess. Kurama could use some exercise.”

“Perfect,” she smiled, changing the subject to innocent topics, Sasuke tuning them out as he scanned the walls for a temporary replacement to his current katana. He sometimes wished that Kusanagi had survived the fight a year earlier, but at least the one he’d wielded the past half year or so was alright.

There was a variety of weapons in the relatively small room; on the walls one by one, or placed together in cases on the floor. He carefully scanned each item, quick to disregard anything of the wrong shape or length. Eventually he settled for three different blades, all three straight rather than the much more commonly curved ones. Straight ones were much better for channeling his lightning chakra, he’d noticed.

He took his time examining each one, stepping out into the cave for better lighting. Neither of them seemed to have been sharpened in a while, but there was one which felt better in his hand, and so he left the others on the ground to test it out properly.

Holding it out in front of him he checked the edges for nicks, finding none luckily. It was slightly shorter than he was used to, the dull lamplight reflecting in its polished surface. Not a bad sword, he concluded, easing into a practice pose and adjusting his footing to account for the slightly uneven ground. Taking a deep breath he cracked his neck to the side once, rolling the shoulder Naruto had previously occupied to ease the tension. It was a little irritating to feel the others’ gazes on him, not to mention the fact that there were four more coming up by the entrance.

 _They better not interrupt_ , he thought, then sprung into action.

While the blade felt unfamiliar in his hand it didn’t impact his movements, slicing smoothly through the air as he moved in well practiced steps. It would do, as long as it could handle his chakra. Between breaths he charged it with lightning, repeating the same moves one after one, finishing with a flip through the air and a follow-up broad swipe through an imaginary enemy’s leg and arm.

Relaxing again he stood up straight, walking back to Naruto and the others, now joined by Shisui and Obito, but also Anko and Orochimaru.

“Not bad,” Shisui whistled, grinning with both hands on his hips. “I can see why Itachi called you a difficult opponent.”

Sasuke merely shrugged, picking up the left aside scabbard and returning the katana to it.

“Sasuke’s the best,” Naruto said, saying it with such easy conviction that it didn’t sound like bragging at all.

Of course, it _was_ true, but it’s not like he needed to impress anyone here.

“I hope you weren’t planning on doing any training with it,” Orochimaru commented drily, speaking as if Sasuke was some troubling child who couldn’t sit still when told.

Biting back a retort, he went to return the other two swords before thanking Mikoto.

“Oh, no need to thank me,” she insisted, waving him off. “Have you met Anko, by the way?”

Sasuke eyed the woman he knew from the first chuunin exam he’d attended, remembering her to be rather loud and somewhat bloodthirsty. This version had her hair cut short, though still sticking out wildly. She also looked a lot more bookish, glasses perched on the tip of her nose and clad in standard uniform.

“Not here,” he admitted, nodding at her.

“Nice to finally met you both,” she said, holding her chin in thought with a slight tilt to her head. “If Orochimaru-sensei wasn’t here, I’d have loved to put your skills to the test.”

“Please don’t give him ideas,” Orochimaru sighed, looking like he was suffering simply from standing in the same room. “This place is bad enough for his recovery.”

“I feel fine,” Sasuke disagreed, the chakra suppressors only a vague discomfort between his shoulder blades.

Orochimaru gave him an irritated look, but seemed content to leave it at that. Instead Mikoto stepped forwards, pushing Naruto ahead to face the four additional members of their group.

“So,” she said, smiling brightly. “Naruto has kindly offered to show us the kyuubi in action. Any volunteers for target practice?”

“Uh,” Naruto said, and Sasuke almost snorted at the idea.

He sure hoped Mikoto meant it figuratively. There was no way these walls were strong enough to contain an attack from Naruto in complete tailed beast mode, not without blowing them all to pieces at least.

“Oh, can I?” Shisui asked, excitement shining in his eyes. “Please let me!”

Anko laughed out loud, slapping him soundly in the back.

“That eager to be crushed, huh?” she teased, Shisui crossing his arms with a huff.

“I can take him on.”

“Um, that’s kind of-“ Naruto tried, but everyone ignored him.

“I doubt the four of us together would stand a chance,” Obito offered, having been quiet up until now but sending an amused look in Mikoto’s direction.

“Don’t rope me into this,” Orochimaru muttered, easing sideways until he stood over by Charasuke instead.

“Oh, come on,” Shisui complained, frowning. “Sasuke here could send Menma flying with just a small chidori, I mean, it can’t be _that_ hard, can it?”

Sasuke couldn’t help himself. Pressing a hand to his mouth he turned away, eyes wide as he tried in vain to stop the amused noises coming from his throat. He had to remind himself that whether or not Obito had told the others what Naruto had revealed, there was no way you could compare Menma to Naruto’s level. It was like comparing a fly to an eagle.

“What’s so funny?” Shisui asked, and Sasuke cleared his throat before turning back with a carefully schooled expression.

“Shisui,” Obito sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “I told you that Naruto is able to fuse completely with the kyuubi, didn’t I? The difference is most likely huge.”

“You know,” Naruto chimed in, a little louder to catch their intention. “I don’t mind sparring or something, but there’s not enough space in here to do that while I’m in kyuubi mode. I thought I’d just show you some stuff I can do.”

Narrowing his eyes, Shisui stepped up to him, searching his face.

“How about we spar first, and then when I’ve almost beat you you can slip into kyuubi mode and impress everyone.”

This time, Sasuke _did_ laugh.

“What’s so _funny_ ,” Shisui growled, all but stomping his foot. “It’s not like he’ll be using his sage powers!”

“Now now,” Mikoto interrupted them with, ruffling Naruto’s hair affectionately. “Just because he looks sweet it doesn’t mean he isn’t deadly.”

“I’m not-“ Naruto started, but caught himself, and Sasuke wondered which part he was about to object to. “There’s just no point in trying to fight Kurama,” he muttered.

Sasuke had to agree, though he doubted the fox did. It seemed he was always looking for a fight according to Naruto.

“Fiiiine,” Shisui relented, but returned to grinning all the same. “Do your thing and we’ll spar afterwards.”

Naruto looked annoyed for a couple seconds, then promptly turned around and stalked into the middle of the training hall. Sasuke could hear him muttering, figuring it was Kurama he talked to rather than himself. Soon he felt the familiar surge of chakra and bright yellow flames licked up Naruto’s body, cloaking it and making his jumpsuit flutter slightly.

“Whoa,” he heard Anko gasp behind him, and a quick glance told him they all seemed more than impressed by the sight.

Feeling the corners of his mouth threaten to twitch into a smile, Sasuke watched in silence as Naruto produced a chakra arm from his back, immediately forming a giant Rasengan in its hand. Being the show-off he was, Naruto made sure the wind from its spiraling could reach them, whipping at their clothes and hair as he pulled the arm back to aim for the wall opposite of the doorway.

The resounding explosion would have reached them, too, if Naruto hadn’t changed into the giant fox and thrown a big tail in front of them as shield. At least the wall held against the concentrated chakra, though Sasuke suspected that Naruto might have weakened it slightly right before impact.

“Holy shit,” Charasuke swore, arms shielding his face but lowering in awe to stare up at the glowing fox, tails swishing and chakra crackling ominously.

“Yeah okay,” Shisui admitted weakly, “that’s different from Menma.”

Kurama turned towards them, Naruto perched on his shoulder, claws digging into the earth and leaving deep scratch marks.

“Yo,” he said with an upwards tilt of his head, and somehow Sasuke could tell that _that_ was a lot worse to take in than the power emanating from him in waves of heat. “Not so tough now, huh?” he added, lowering his face to their level and leering at them.

“I think they got the point,” Naruto told him, rolling his eyes and hopping up to sit perched above Kurama’s forehead instead. “So, anything special you wanna see? This guy loves to gossip if you’d rather talk.”

“I do not love _gossip_ , brat!”

“Whenever the others visit it’s the only thing you do!”

“You’re confusing it with shit-talking _you_.”

“Am not!”

“Oi!” Sasuke snapped at them, calling their attention back to the group, “I know you two like to behave like little kids, but you do have company.”

“Tch.” Kurama clicked his tongue, glaring at him. “You still piss me off, brat, so watch it.”

“I like him,” Shisui exclaimed, eyes bright with excitement. “What else can you do?”

“Hmm.” Kurama narrowed his eyes, two tails flickering impatiently. “I can do a lot of things.”

“Can you fight me?”

Kurama made a face like he was talking to an irritating but still cute child, and Naruto jumped down from his head to join them on the ground.

“How about you have a round of rock-paper-scissors?” Naruto suggested, looking far too happy in his billowing chakra cloak, thumb rubbing at the tip of his nose for a second. “He always loses at that.”

 “Lies!” Kurama growled, but Sasuke had met him often enough – never voluntarily, but now and then Naruto seemed to think they needed to get along – to guess he was humoring Naruto and playing nice.

Everyone else seemed stuck in their various stages of shock or surprise, but Shisui went up to Naruto to inspect him, circling him with a thoughtful expression.

“Clever,” he hummed, “but it _has_ to drain a lot of chakra, right?”

He poked at Naruto’s arm, eyes widening at the pleasant warmth that Sasuke knew surrounded him. While Kurama’s chakra could be sinister in its sheer power and volume, Naruto always somehow managed to mix it with his own to form that inexplicable comfort.

“Hey, Sasu-chan! Come check this out! Feels like sticking your hand in a warm blanket or something.”

“Don’t call me that,” Charasuke spluttered, but still hesitantly made his way over to a wary Naruto.

“Just don’t think this is your chance to get all pervy!” he warned, Shisui laughing loudly before grabbing Charasuke’s hand to stick it right into Naruto’s face. “What the-!”

“Shisui, you asshole!”

“I couldn’t resist!”

Sasuke sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose as the silly banter continued around Naruto. He should have known that even with a giant monster fox by his side, Naruto would only get serious if his life depended on it.

“On the one hand,” Obito said quietly by his side, “I can tell that he’s got some fearsome powers hidden underneath the surface.”

Giving him an expectant look, Sasuke waited for the ‘but’ he could tell was coming up.

“But,” Obito continued predictably, combing a hand through his spiky hair, “there _is_ the question of that attitude.”

Biting his lip against another inexplicable urge to pull a smile, Sasuke settled for shaking his head in exasperation.

“He’s only serious when it matters, and sometimes not even then.”

Obito hummed in reply, and by that point the other three spectators had all braved Kurama’s presence and surrounded Naruto, fascinated by his chakra and the way he could shape it at will. He watched as Naruto sprouted multiple hands, lifting first himself off the ground with them, then Charasuke much to his chagrin.

It wasn’t until he took notice of Mikoto’s delighted smile as she pushed at Anko’s shoulder in response to a joke that he realized he was, in fact, smiling too.

Well, _shit_.

He hurriedly morphed his face into a neutral look, hoping no one had seen. It was bad enough his recent lack of control made him act differently; he didn’t need any witnesses to the whole mess.

“Alright,” Kurama drawled, capturing everyone’s attention again, pointing a thick claw in Shisui’s direction. “Don’t forget you promised us a fight.”

“Really?” Shisui’s face shone, mouth splitting in a toothy grin.

“ _If_ you defeat Naruto, that is. I’m stronger than the brat so it’s only fair.”

“How is that fair?” Shisui cried out, though he was already halfway out of his vest in preparation.

“I’ll drop the chakra cloak,” Naruto offered, to the disappointment of his spectators. “And you can use your Sharingan, if you like. Sasuke uses it all the time anyway.”

They continued talking about rules and such, while Sasuke discreetly rubbed at his face. He always felt a little tingly whenever Naruto’s chakra amplified, the aftereffects being the worst part. As much as he tried to ignore it whenever it happened, and as used as he’d become to it, now that they had kissed it somehow made it ten times worse. It really didn’t make any sense, but ever since he’d been in that dreamlike state with Naruto pumping chakra into him he felt much more sensitive to it.

In a bad way. A very, _very_ bad way. The worst, really.

“Ready?” Mikoto asked, her voice carrying over Sasuke’s thoughts.

Naruto and Shisui were facing each other now, everyone having cleared a decently sized circle around them.

“Warm-up at first,” she added, both of them nodding, Shisui flexing his fingers in anticipation.

Sasuke wondered how long it would take until Naruto grew bored.

“I’ve been dying to fight one of you ever since Itachi sparred with Sasuke,” Shisui said to Naruto, flicking hair out of his eyes, grin widening into something a little less amused and a little more challenging.

“You should have picked Sasuke,” Naruto told him with a laugh and lazy shoulder roll that for some _extremely inexplicable_ reason had Sasuke’s mouth run a little dry.

He was wearing his stupid jumpsuit, for fuck’s sake!

“How so?”

They had started circling each other now, Kurama serving as background for the scene, head leaning in one paw and red eyes darting between the opponents. Just like Naruto he had dropped the chakra, his red fur blending in with the dark walls of the cave.

“He knows how to match his strength with his sparring partner.”

Shisui raised an eyebrow, obviously taking Naruto’s words for a taunt. Sasuke, on the other hand, could remember a few too many instances of searching out Sakura after training, since she was the only one who wouldn’t tell on them after Naruto broke his bones by accident. He held his breath as Shisui attacked first, swift with his Sharingan activated and clearly ignoring any need for warming up.

Naruto dodged.

“You’ll have to be faster if you want to touch me,” he teased, and Sasuke raised his eyes to the heavens because this could take a while and he would rather go back so he could secretly practice with his new blade.

A series of attacks and dodges followed, Naruto easily dancing away, letting Shisui come close but never close enough. Judging by how his cousin’s grin became a strained grimace, it had to be frustrating.

“You’re no fun,” he complained, huffing when Naruto laughed obnoxiously and danced away again, though not as graceful as an actual dancer of course. “Fine, I’ll get serious.”

This time Shisui managed to take Naruto by surprise, engaging him in precisely three blows and one kick before he was sent flying.

“That was better,” Naruto nodded, jumping on his toes as he waited for Shisui to return.

Soon enough he did; a frown on his face as he dusted off his clothes.

 “It was like watching a toddler attack his sensei,” Anko commented, Shisui glaring at her as she threw her head back and laughed.

“Do it better yourself,” he sent back, focusing on Naruto again as he prepared for another attack.

This time, Naruto allowed him a couple of blows before throwing him off again, grinning at Shisui’s swearing. Again Shisui attacked and was sent flying, Sharingan flashing an angry red as he almost managed to dodge the throw. A few more rounds of this and Sasuke congratulated himself on a job well done.

Naruto had been relying way too much on his sage powers and Kurama, and Sasuke had spent a good amount of time beating it into him that if he couldn’t win over Sasuke in speed and strength using taijutsu only, then none of his wins even counted.

Of course, since Sasuke had been using his Rinnegan eventually, Naruto had a very difficult time beating him.

“Too easy,” he muttered as Shisui flickered out of sight and reappeared behind Naruto’s back, the latter spinning around at the last second.

It resulted in Shisui being tossed away _again_ , and Sasuke was starting to wonder if this was something Naruto secretly dreamed of doing to _him_. At least Shisui didn’t seem tired yet, wiping dirt off his face and attacking anew.

 When the same thing had repeated another ten times, Sasuke was starting to wonder if this had been a good idea after all. The only change was that Naruto seemed to throw Shisui further away each time, and once Kurama even caught him with one of his tails. While everyone else seemed to think that Naruto was doing it all without a care in the world, Sasuke could tell that he was concentrating hard. He was good, but he wasn’t impossible to beat without all his extra power boosts.

“Yes!” Shisui exclaimed, having successfully pushed Naruto backwards with a kick to the side, ending the series of attacks by _not_ being thrown for a change. “I feel like I’m starting to see your movements better.”

“Careful, brat, he might beat ya.”

“As if!” Naruto told them both confidently, flipping Kurama off when he snorted rudely. “It’s boring to dodge all the time, that’s all.”

Unzipping his jacket and throwing it to the side, Naruto waved a hand tauntingly at Shisui, daring him to attack again.

He did.

And was thrown again.

“I wish I could say he wasn’t fighting seriously,” Obito commented, arms crossed and eyes narrowed as he watched the sparring match. “It’s a bit painful to watch, really.”

“I’m a lot faster, that’s all,” Sasuke replied, hoping Shisui would give up soon so they could leave.

Obito sent him a dubious look, wincing when Shisui braced himself against the opposite wall this time around.

“A lot, huh?”

He shrugged.

“He’s still in kyuubi mode, more or less. Releasing the seal on the kyuubi always gives him a power boost.”

“Releasing?” It was Mikoto asking, walking over to talk to them. “Are you trying to tell me that the kyuubi _isn’t sealed_ right now?”

“They’re still connected,” he hurried to answer, though it’s not like he’d paid much attention whenever Naruto started talking about the finer details of being a jinchuuriki. “I think.”

“You _think_?”

“The chakra link is still intact. I doubt he could leave even if the seal’s been opened.”

“So you’re trying to tell me that in your world, the tailed beasts are not only fully conscious, but also willing allies?”

“’Willing’ is a strong word,” Sasuke mumbled, letting himself be momentarily distracted by Shisui landing a second successful hit. “You’ll have to ask Naruto for details.”

“Oh, I will.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re only allied with Naruto, anyway,” he added, earning himself a couple of incredulous looks.

He wondered absentmindedly if the other tailed beasts had noticed Naruto going missing yet, or if the link between them wasn’t that strong. There were a lot of things that might have happened during their absence, and Sasuke was doing his best not to think about it.

“’ _They’_ , was it?” Obito murmured to himself, but they were all interrupted by a resounding _crack_ as Naruto slammed Shisui into the ground.

“I hope that was the ground and not his ribs,” they could hear Orochimaru mutter as he walked past them, Shisui uttering a weak groan from his spot on the ground.

“Shit,” Naruto said, kneeling next to him and repeating the word several times until Orochimaru swatted him away.

Seconds later they all stood in a half circle around Shisui, who was managing a grin even as Orochimaru poked at his chest with chakra-infused fingers.

“Maybe this wasn’t my best idea,” he admitted, Naruto hovering above his head while tugging anxiously at his hair.

“I _really_ didn’t try to throw you that hard, I’m sorry!” Naruto apologized, choking a little when Anko slapped his back with a hearty laugh.

“Serves him right!” she told him, backtracking when Mikoto sent her a glare. “I mean, he’s a big boy. Apologizing will just make it more embarrassing for him.”

“Oh thank you, Anko, really. I’m so glad you’re looking out for me,” Shisui said, a fake smile plastered on his face.

“Ha!” Kurama chimed in. “He didn’t do too badly since he cornered the brat enough to earn it.”

“I have a name, you shitty fox!” Naruto complained, then promptly shoved his fingertips against his stomach and twisted, Kurama leaving them with a small ‘pop’. “But yeah, I did warn you, Shisui.”

“S’alright,” Shisui grinned, heaving himself up since Orochimaru seemed done with his treatment. “I’d have been disappointed if I didn’t fail spectacularly. I’m starting to believe you really _did_ battle a goddess.”

“Madara was worse,” Naruto snorted, freezing once he realized what they were talking about and glancing at Sasuke. “I mean, uh…”

“Maybe we should finish up here and head back,” Mikoto interrupted them with, smiling at them as if Naruto hadn’t just snapped a couple of Shisui’s ribs by accident.

If Sasuke hadn’t picked up on the flash of yellow chakra simply from the fact that he’d broken out in tingles again, he would have wondered how Naruto managed to throw him so hard.

“I’ll get you next time,” Shisui said cheerfully, standing up to throw an arm around Naruto’s shoulders and walking him towards the exit. “Now tell me about the kyuubi, does he _really_ suck at rock-paper-scissors?”

Hanging back a little as the others started moving towards the exit, Sasuke took deep breaths to shake off residual tingling. He was surprised to find that Charasuke had the same idea as him, standing quietly to his right and observing the others as they made their way across the cave.

“Tomorrow,” Charasuke said to him once he seemed sure the rest couldn’t hear. “Train me again tomorrow.”

“Inspired all of a sudden?” he couldn’t help but ask, starting to walk slowly.

 “Not really.” Charasuke had a contemplative look on his face, gnawing on a fingernail as he followed. “Just wish I could beat Menma.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment, figuring that any motivation was better than none. Not that he cared, of course. It just irked him that his alternate self was weak, that’s all.

“But Naruto can’t come. He distracts you too much.”

Almost stumbling, Sasuke was appalled. _He noticed_. Or, maybe, he knew because they seemed to be in the same predicament, after all.

Either way Sasuke wasn’t happy about it. If he wanted any chance at survival once they went back, he’d need to keep everything firmly under wraps. It was the one thing he’d told himself before promising Naruto that he couldn’t leave.

And even though he knew he _couldn’t_ , if push came to shove, he might _need_ to. The thought wasn’t pleasant, but Sasuke was no stranger to a bleak outlook on life. Better to prepare for the worst than to blindly stare into a dream, in his opinion.

Still, he was already half a step inside the dream, here in this strange world with Naruto’s kisses lingering like shadows across his skin. By accepting them he had already failed in a sense, Charasuke’s observation possibly based on the wrong facts but true all the same.

Naruto distracted him, made him emotional and weak, made him see things in ways that were entirely too hopeful and positive.

It didn’t help that his gut told him he’d made the decision already, unknowingly.

While he had come up with bad ideas in the past, the notion that he could _give in_ and not expect a backlash was ridiculous. And yet Naruto made it seem so easy, a tickling brush of lips and he was ensnared, no escape in sight. _How clever of him_ , he thought, _to attack here when my defenses are down._

“Sasuke?”

He glanced at Charasuke, at the lack of battle scars, the innocent petulance in his eyes, the slouch in his gait. If Sasuke could regain half that innocence…

“Let’s not fall behind,” he said, eyes focused ahead on the family he had lost forever, and the one family he had left.  

If he meant their current pace, their fighting skills, or something else entirely he wasn’t sure, but he _did_ know one thing.

Building his life around killing his older brother had been the worst idea he’d ever had.

Building his life around Naruto couldn’t _possibly_ be as bad.

Even if it was sort of terrifying to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I'm kind of falling asleep while writing this so I won't say much, besides a big thank you for reading so far and for giving this story over 1,500 kudos so far. It really makes me very happy. Also the alternative title for this chapter is "Sasuke ogles Naruto a lot and figures he's kinda gay after all". Hope you liked it. 
> 
> 、(￣▽￣)V


	33. Out of tune

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been struggling so much with this chapter that updating feels unreal. The first half is kinda angsty and the second half is more fun, I think. I'll just not make any comments bc I've been undecided between hating and loving this so many times so yeah... Sorry for the long wait! Uni has started too, so my writing time is cut considerably short from now on:/ Why am I such a workaholic, sigh. I never learn.
> 
> Also, things are gonna get intense from the next chapter and onwards... :3

“Where’s Itachi?”

“Oh he’ll be here in a minute, he told me to go ahead.”

“I see. Fugaku dear, where’s the- ah, thank you!”

Charasuke rubbed at his tired eyes, watching his mother fuss around the small meeting room, Shisui already lounging in his seat. She placed the tea pot his dad had brought in the middle of the small table, cups already placed in front of each chair. He wasn’t a morning person, but he _definitely_ wasn’t a wake-up-at-two-in-the-morning person. It didn’t help that the room was only lit up by a portable electric lamp that left most of it in shadows. At least he still wore his comfy pajamas, but he was starting to regret not bringing a blanket.

“Sasuke, would you hold your cup out for me?”

He dutifully did as told, allowing Mikoto to fill it with steaming tea. _Why_ they needed to have this meeting in the dead of night he didn’t know, and he would probably be more excited about it if he didn’t feel dead to the world.

“Sorry I’m late,” Itachi apologized as he walked inside, looking like he was wearing the clothes he’d been sleeping in, too.

It made Sasuke feel slightly better to know he wasn’t the only one losing beauty sleep over this.

“Let’s start right away, then,” Obito said, placing a neat stack of papers in front of himself. “This is the report I’ll be handing in to Tsunade-sama in the morning, so let’s go through it properly and see if anyone can add details to it.”

Sasuke blinked sleepily, blowing on his tea. A report? Why was he woken up for something like _that_?

“I’m pretty sure we’ve gone through everything several times already,” Itachi mumbled, tying his hair into a messy ponytail. “I have to get back to Akatsuki early, so don’t talk too long, okay?”

“So grumpy,” Shisui teased him, quickly shutting up at the look he got.

“We’ve never discussed it with everyone present,” Mikoto reminded him, looking far too bright and neat for Sasuke’s mood. “It’s better to take our time now and avoid surprises later.”

“We only have tomorrow left before the mission starts,” Fugaku added, arms crossed and a deep frown on his face. “I’m not sure I agree with Tsunade-sama, but we don’t have much choice.”

“Um,” Sasuke piped up, all heads turning to look at him. “What’s the report on?”

“Naruto and Sasuke, obviously,” Itachi sighed, slumping in his chair. “And Menma.”

“Menma?” he asked, the name leaving a sour taste on his tongue.

“You’ll see as we go along,” Obito told him, shuffling through the papers before handing him a page. “Why don’t you look through this list and see if you know anything that might be helpful.”

Accepting it, he raised his eyebrows at the word ‘confidential’ in bright red. Everyone knew about Naruto and Sasuke arriving in the village, but apparently he’d missed the part where there was secret information about them.

He stared at the vertical timeline that filled the page, starting with their arrival and ending with ‘Mission start: Land of Tea’.

“I thought it was just a regular mission?” he asked, not that he knew the details or anything.

“We’ll get there,” Obito promised, then cleared his throat. “I think most of us are updated on their background stories besides Sasuke, but I personally believe that Kaguya is the key here.”

Sasuke was about to open his mouth and ask, but was stopped by a look from Itachi. Well, great. So he could join the meeting, but no one would actually tell him what was going on. Maybe they thought he should be grateful just for the fact that he was allowed to be present, but if that was the case he’d rather stay home and sleep.

“Yes, the question is just, _which_ Kaguya? We know that ours is active-“

“According to Sasuke’s word, she is,” Mikoto interrupted Shisui with, tugging at her hair in thought. “ _Assuming_ they don’t know why they’re here, and _assuming_ they’re telling the truth, it’s because of her that Sasuke regained his powers. But why not Naruto?”

“Maybe she’ll get to him later,” Fugaku suggested.

“Or he wasn’t supposed to come here at all,” Obito said, tapping a finger against the pile of papers in front of him. “I think we’ve safely ruled out Naruto’s Hiraishin being able to transport them through dimensions, and Sasuke _was_ trying to copy the technique that the masked man used to bring Naruto and Sakura here last time.”

“I don’t know,” Mikoto hummed, moving her tea cup in small circles so that her tea swirled inside it. “They seem rather inseparable to me.”

All of this was mostly going over Sasuke’s head, and he pulled his knees up against his chest to sit more comfortably. As interesting as it was, he wondered why it mattered. They were already here, weren’t they?

“It’s definitely a risk to separate them for this mission,” Itachi sighed, staring unseeingly into his cup. “I understand the reason behind it, and I don’t think I’d choose differently in her position, but there is the possibility that we’re forcing something we’re not ready to face yet.”

“And how is Menma?” Obito asked, Itachi shrugging at the question.

“Unstable but not aggressive. He’s closed himself off so it’s hard to read him.”

At this Sasuke definitely started listening more actively, flicking his gaze between Itachi and Obito.

“I’m missing something here,” he said, narrowing his eyes when met with silence. “What does Menma have to do with anything?”

“It’s all speculation, honey,” his mother said, smiling at him.

“So? Don’t bring me to your top secret meeting if you’re going to speak in riddles.”

All eyes focused on him, and he glared defiantly back at them. If they were going to judge him he’d rather they had done it before dragging him here, so that if they decided he didn’t need to know, he at least could have slept uninterrupted.

“Very well,” Obito started, leaning back in his chair. “We’re working with several different possibilities here, and one of them is a repeat of last time. We now know, courtesy of Naruto, that their Kaguya was controlling the masked man, also known as that dimension’s version of me. We still don’t know whether _he_ was controlling Menma two years ago, or if someone else was.”

Blinking slowly, Sasuke let the information sink in.

“It doesn’t make sense for him to destroy all those other villages, considering the masked man –Obito, that is– was after Naruto.”

Sasuke sighed, rubbing at his face tiredly. Most people thought there was only one masked man, one that had destroyed villages and murdered people, and who had then controlled Menma’s body and used his powers against Konoha in the final fight. The reason _he_ knew differently was because Menma had told him, had confided in him one night when-

He shook his head, not wanting to think about that right now.  

“If we assume that the masked man _didn’t_ use Menma until around the time Naruto arrived, then it’s possible that whoever did use him got the idea to bring Sasuke here then.”

“But why Sasuke?” Fugaku asked. “Wouldn’t it make sense for them to bring Naruto back, since he was the one who came here last time? They wouldn’t even know anything about the other dimension’s Sasuke.”

“I admit it doesn’t sound very logical,” Obito said, flipping through his papers again. “On the other hand, it’s also possible that since Kaguya is involved, she brought Sasuke here to counter whoever we’re up against.”

“This is all very vague,” Itachi pointed out, “we have no idea who we’re up against so making too detailed guesses won’t get us anywhere.”

“Agreed,” Mikoto said. “Perhaps this mission will shed some light on the matter, perhaps not. What we do know is that Kaguya seems interested in Sasuke, and that Menma is a potential threat.”

“Wait, what?! You seriously think Menma is on the enemy’s side?”

Everyone gave him pitying looks, which only served to anger him.

“So what, you’re sending Sasuke on some weird mission hoping Menma will show up and fight him? If there’s something you’re keeping from me I’d really appreciate it if you told me.”

“We’re sending Menma on the mission as well,” Fugaku told him, combing a hand through his dark hair, a shadow flickering over his face with the movement. “There’s something going on by the border, we’ve gotten reports of strange chakra signatures and attacks. It started right after you and Menma went on that mission there three months ago…”

Sasuke felt lightheaded. How long had his family known these things, and why hadn’t they _told_ him anything? Didn’t they think he could be trusted? No one had asked him anything about Menma before, but it made sense now that Menma had mentioned feeling distrusted lately.

“Do you have any proof at all, or is this just you making assumptions as well?” he spat, stomach churning at the thought that Menma would have been anything but loyal to the village the past year. “If he’s being controlled by someone, why aren’t you _helping_ him instead?!”

“Sasuke, honey, you need to calm down and let us explain.”

He had half a mind to storm out of the meeting room, but bit back the feeling at the last moment. Gripping his legs hard against his chest he waited, thinking that they better have a _damn_ good explanation for this.

 “This is extremely confidential, do you understand?” his mother continued, boring her eyes into him. “No one can know. You’re no longer an academy student, and it’s time for you to step up and realize that as my son you’re also the son of our clan’s leader, and a ninja of Konoha. I don’t want to make things difficult for you and this is anything but an ideal situation, but we can’t afford to hide things from you any longer.”

Staring at her, he wondered how he was supposed to feel about this, conflicted emotions rushing through his brain.

“Time to grow up,” Shisui helpfully supplied with a weak smile, Itachi avoiding eye contact.

“Tsunade has been keeping tabs on Menma ever since what happened last time, and I’m not happy about you getting involved with him, Sasuke. But as long as he seemed to trust you I wasn’t allowed to say anything about it.”

“What are you talking about?” Sasuke frowned, feeling incredibly left out. Everyone gave him that look again, like they knew something he didn’t and weren’t happy for his sake.

“Well, Menma broke up with you. That means he will no longer confide in you, and we need to know everything he’s said and done with you present.”

Feeling faint again, Sasuke stared down at the table’s surface. They’d been keeping an eye on Menma… as in spying on him? Did they all know about his and Menma’s sort-of relationship? They’d _used_ their relationship in order to gain information on Menma?!

“Why should I tell you anything?” he whispered, trying to swallow down the thick lump in his throat. “And why was I the only one knowing absolutely nothing?!”

“Simple,” Itachi spoke up, leaning towards him over the table. “If you knew we were keeping tabs on him you would have acted differently. He would have noticed, for sure.”

“Like I said,” his mother repeated, “I’m not happy about this at all. But I at least convinced Tsunade-sama to not bring you in for official questioning. I’d rather do this in private with you, but you have to understand that this is serious.”

“You still haven’t told me what the hell’s going on here,” he muttered darkly, upset that they still talked _to_ him, not _with_ him.

“We were going to talk about Menma later, so it’s natural that you don’t know everything yet.” Obito sounded concerned, but not intimidated by Sasuke’s venomous look. “Maybe we should return to the question of Naruto and Sasuke for a while and take things in order.”

“Whatever.” Sasuke clenched his fists, biting into the inside of his cheek.

There was a hollow feeling in his chest, clawing at his ribs and scratching at his throat. Sure, Menma had his moments when he wasn’t the nicest to be around, and it’s not like he wanted to get back together with him – but for him to be involved with some undefined enemy? It felt like a strange dream.

“Alright,” Shisui sighed, clasping his hands in front of himself. “We know they are the reincarnations of Indra and Ashura, and that the previous reincarnations in their dimension were Madara and Hashirama. If this really is connected to Kaguya then it makes sense that she would be able to reach out to them.”

“Honestly, I can’t help but think this is a lot bigger than we can imagine,” Fugaku said, an unhappy look deepening the lines on his face. “That all out war they had… it sounds like a nightmare.”

Everyone nodded, the mood somber. Sasuke on the other hand sat stiffly, heart pounding in his ears. Reincarnations? For real? Did that mean he and Menma… oh, who was he kidding. _There’s no way I’d get that kind of power_ , he thought bitterly, opening his left palm to glance at the pale and unmarked skin there. This night might be a flood of information he preferred not knowing, but at least he could always count on himself being completely irrelevant.

He was only in this meeting because Menma had thought he was hot, anyway.

“Our lucky scenario is Naruto and Sasuke battling it out with whomever the enemy is, keeping the rest of us out of it.” Obito shuffled his papers again, as if searching for the answer in a pile of question marks. “Our not so lucky scenario is being caught in the crossfire. Or being the enemy…”

“At least Naruto seemed rather confident in handling his tailed beast, and then there’s the fact Sasuke let slip that he can control all nine of them? Between his powers and Sasuke’s Rinnegan we could at least deal with a similar situation to last time.”

“I don’t know, Shisui…” Mikoto frowned, placing her cup down. “There’s too much hanging on those two. For all we know they really could turn against us.”

“But why would they do that?” Sasuke bit his lip as soon as the words had left him, wishing he’d stayed silent. “We don’t know anything about them, but I don’t think they would do that. If they care about us in their dimension, they would care here, too. Right?”

“Sasuke, we’re not saying they would do it voluntarily,” his mother disagreed. “But we don’t know who or what brought them here, and for what purpose. We can’t just shrug and hope for the best.”

Biting his lip again, harder so he wouldn’t speak, Sasuke wondered to himself why they acted as if Naruto and Sasuke were there for a family gathering, in that case. They sure let them roam free, though he supposed there was no point in trying to keep track of two ridiculously strong ninjas with teleportation techniques.

“The situation is unusual,” Obito said, seemingly done with his paper-shuffling. “At least we did learn something from last time, so we’re slightly better prepared for an emergency. For now, we can’t do much more than wait and see if the mission gives us any clues.”

“Let’s review the questions marks before we call it a night,” Mikoto suggested, Sasuke groaning inwardly.

He didn’t want to stick around, but he also knew that the moment he was alone again wouldn’t be pleasant. Already his fingertips were shaking lightly, his breathing shallow. He focused his gaze on the warm light coming from the lamp, steady unlike his thoughts. If anyone noticed they didn’t comment, silent as Obito smoothed out the paper at the top of the pile.

“Well, the how and why are obvious questions, and I doubt we’d figure it out even if we sat here until morning. Most questions probably don’t have much to do with the reason they’re here, either.”

Everyone nodded, Itachi the only one making his tiredness obvious as he rubbed at his eyes.

“I still want to know about Sasuke’s eyes,” Mikoto said, tapping the side of her cup. “Is it because of the Rinnegan? But if that was it I feel like he would have told us.”

“Why don’t you just ask him,” Itachi sighed, but Sasuke frowned at the lamp as the other Sasuke’s words from days earlier came to him.

“What about his eyes?” he asked, tensing up when all eyes turned on him.

“Well, why he said he’s not going to lose his eyesight. Even Itachi is starting to feel it,” Mikoto explained, gesturing towards the three people present that possessed Sharingan. “If we knew how to fix that then things wouldn’t be so difficult for the clan.”

“Oh,” he said, “I thought you knew already.”

When everyone gave him sharp looks to urge him on he rubbed at his arm, feeling uncomfortable at the memory of Sasuke’s intense pain as he told him.

“I don’t know if it’s the explanation, but he’s got Itachi’s eyes, not his own.”

His mother drew in a loud breath, but Itachi calmly took a sip of his tea.

“Explains a lot,” his brother acknowledged the information with, meeting his eyes for once. “But not everything. And I think this proves that Sasuke is our best option to get more information out of them.”

“Hold on a minute-“ Sasuke started, but paused when his father’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“Think of it as an intel mission, son. Get close to them, figure them out. If you think they’re here to help us, then prove it with the information you can retrieve.”

Sasuke stared at him. Were they serious? They brought him here to tell him that his ex might be an enemy plotting against Konoha, and then expect him to happily accept that, _and then_ expect him to take on a vague mission to gather information about Naruto and Sasuke?

“You guys are so full of shit,” he spat, pushing his chair back and standing up. “A month ago you wouldn’t even let me go on a C-rank mission alone, and now you want me to figure out this whole mess?”

“Sasuke, that’s not what we-“ his mother tried, but he’d had enough.

“Spare it for someone who cares,” he hissed at her, turning his back and stalking towards the door. “I’m not telling you _anything_.”

Anger boiling inside him he threw the door open, half surprised when no one stopped him. He kept a brisk pace through the tunnels, fists clenching and unclenching as he muttered curses under his breath. It was too much. It was too, damn, _much_.

Maybe it was because of being woken up in the middle of the night, but he felt like the dinner he’d had hours ago was trying to come back up. He fisted his shirt tightly, swallowing against the bile rising in his throat. He didn’t know what to think. It was such a surreal experience, his whole family suddenly expecting things from him, when they never had before. He especially didn’t want to think about Menma being part of this.

It still hurt every time he thought of him, how easily he’d been dismissed. His mother had known about it, but she didn’t even ask if he was feeling okay? If something had happened? Did they really only care about him when Konoha was in danger or…?

Biting viciously at his lips he bypassed his house and kept walking, the dark of the night enveloping him like a comforting blanket. There was a hint of rain in the air, but puddles had already gathered here and there so perhaps it had passed. His anger simmered down to a tight ball inside his stomach, heavy and hurting him numb. What was he supposed to do, anyway? If the Hokage ordered him he would do it, for sure. He didn’t want to stop being a ninja, even if he was a pretty lousy one.

Oh, how he wished he’d never talked to Menma in the first place! His gut feeling had _told_ him it was a bad idea, and yet…

And yet there had been something pulling him in, something that still scratched at him in that moment before waking up, in the silence of his mind when there was nothing else to distract him with. It was big and ugly and impossible to get rid of, leaving him short of breath even now as he forced his legs to keep moving.

 _I don’t want this_ , he thought, scrubbing furiously at his chest. _I want to forget about him, I want to hate him, but I can’t tell them everything… I can’t._

Stumbling on a stone step, he realized he’d reached his destination. Drawing in a shuddering breath he took the last steps, knocking with his chin tucked into his chest. He didn’t want to be alone, but he also didn’t want to be seen. Even as he contemplated turning around and leaving, the door opened to reveal a sleepy-looking Sakura, still in regular clothes.

“Sasuke?” she asked, surprised but quickly getting over it and pulling him inside. “Do you want some tea?”

Relieved, he nodded. He liked how he didn’t have to explain himself with her, though he usually ended up doing that anyway.

This time, however, there would be no explanations he could give.

xxx

Naruto wasn’t sure what it was that alerted him of Sasuke’s lacking presence, but the bed had already gone cold by the time he fumbled around for his body. Instantly awake, he wasn’t really that worried. He could feel him a little further away, somewhere outside. They’d gone to bed rather late, after sharing another dinner with Sasuke’s family. He’d also apologized to Iruka for being gone so much, but luckily his clones seemed to do the trick well enough. It was a strange feeling to dispel them every night and be struck with all the things he’d done with the kids, and how much more he liked them each day. Once Sasuke left for the mission he’d definitely spend more time with them as his real self.

Stretching lazily, he contemplated checking on Sasuke to see what he was up to. Chances were it was either brooding or training, neither of which were particularly appealing. Of course, he would love to do some training together, but Sasuke’s refusal to rest was starting to nip at his patience. There had to be something he could do to make him return to bed…

_Offer him a good time?_

Naruto frowned at Kurama’s suggestion for all of three seconds before his face burned a hot red.

“Would you stop that?!” he hissed at the fox, rolling over and groaning into the pillow. “I’m trying really, really hard to keep my thoughts clean and you just make it worse all the time!”

 _Clean,_ Kurama scoffed. _You’ve been a pervert even from before you met Jiraiya._

“Not a pervert,” Naruto mumbled, but sighed at the obvious lie. “Fine, I just don’t want to get a boner or something around him, and that is totally going to happen if you keep putting suggestions in my head!”

_I’m pretty confident he wouldn’t mind._

Holding his breath, Naruto allowed his mind to wander for a second. He’d been dangerously close to taking things a little further yesterday, because Sasuke had been so agreeable, so pliant as they kissed. The memory of his mouth on Sasuke’s neck still tingled on his lips, and last night he hadn’t dared ask for a goodnight kiss in case he couldn’t stop. He hadn’t _wanted_ to stop, and that was the problem. It had felt like a dizzying rush of heat to his groin, stronger than anything he’d ever experienced before.

He wanted Sasuke, wanted to kiss him more, hold him closer, taste every patch of skin until he’d committed it to memory.

_Oh, I’m sure he’d love to hear that._

“Dammit, stop mocking me already,” he moaned, still suffocating against the pillow. “I’m suffering.”

_Well suffer more quietly, I was trying to sleep._

“Stupid fox,” he muttered to himself, knowing full well that Kurama could hear him. “Stupid Sasuke, too.”

Dragging himself off the bed he found a sweater, hoping it wasn’t cold outside. There had been what looked like rain clouds gathering as they walked home, but if there was any rain during the night he’d missed it. He took his time as he slipped his shoes on in the hallway, walking slowly around the house once outside.

Sasuke was in the backyard, sitting on one of the swings and moving slowly back and forth, staring at the ground _. Brooding it is,_ Naruto thought to himself with a sigh. It wasn’t unusual for Sasuke to have episodes where he would just sit somewhere and stare at nothing until he’d sorted out whatever thoughts plagued him. Sometimes he would do it even with Naruto still around, ignoring him for hours at a time. It was happening less and less which Naruto was thankful for, because it was still a little creepy to see him with such a blank look on his face.

Figuring he might as well keep him company, Naruto sat down on the swing next to Sasuke, pushing at the sandy ground to gather up a bit of speed.

“Idiot,” Sasuke said, giving him an irritated look. “You’re making too much noise.”

“Sorry!” he replied but made no move to slow down, continuing to kick at the ground and enjoying the air whipping at his face. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your brooding.”

“I wasn’t brooding, I was thinking.”

Sasuke had stopped, feet planted firmly on the ground as he watched Naruto. Probably judged him, too.

“About?”

When there was no immediate reply Naruto made a mental shrug and settled for swinging in silence, not feeling particularly curious at the moment. If Sasuke was talking to him then it couldn’t be that bad, anyway. To his surprise, Sasuke held a hand out and grabbed his swing, not letting go until he’d stopped completely.

“I was thinking,” he started, face scrunched up in annoyance, “that maybe it’s not so terrible after all.”

“What isn’t?”

Sasuke was staring at him in silence, pale in the moonlight but with a shadow hiding the expression in his eyes. Even so Naruto’s heart caught in his throat, hoping against his better judgement that this was related to the recent changes between them.

“Sasuke, come on. You can’t say that and then not explain!”

“I already said everything I wanted to say.”

“What!” Naruto jumped off the swing, grabbing the chains holding up Sasuke’s and leaning over him. “You didn’t even say what exactly it is that isn’t so terrible.”

“Well, take a guess!”

Locked in a staring competition, Naruto bit his cheek, wondering if he dared to. If he picked wrong, then most likely Sasuke would never tell him what he meant. Especially since he wanted to guess that this was related to the conversation they’d had after lunch.

It didn’t help that he noticed how close they were, Sasuke’s head tilted back to meet his gaze, knees bumping. While Sasuke had always been a handsome guy he also always looked better at night, features sharpened and the look in his eyes more intense, somehow.

He clenched his fingers around the cool metal of the chains, so that he wouldn’t reach out and cup Sasuke’s cheeks in his hands. He wanted to. Maybe he could? But if Sasuke was talking about something else-

“God, do I have to beat you over the head with it?” Sasuke sighed, standing up from the swing and twisting his fingers around the front of Naruto’s sweater. “You just can’t make it easy for me, can you?”

They were so close that Naruto could barely breathe, shivers running down his spine at Sasuke’s assertiveness. His tongue felt heavy and sluggish, uncooperative as he opened his mouth to speak. All he managed to produce was a small noise in the back of his throat, because Sasuke was looking at him in a way that weakened his knees until they were almost quivering.

“I asked you a question, dobe.”

Sasuke’s voice was sweet against his lips, amused enough that Naruto found his own again to retaliate.

“You still haven’t explained,” he said, meaning for it to come out strong but sure it sounded more nervous than anything else.

“Fine,” Sasuke huffed, eyes darting down to his lips and back up again. “Fine.”

Entirely unprepared, Naruto froze the moment he felt Sasuke’s mouth closing hotly over his. While it wasn’t the first time Sasuke had kissed him and certainly not the first time they’d kissed at all, there was something that just felt different this time. It was a good kind of different though, spreading heat through his chest as Sasuke slanted his mouth and pressed more firmly against him.

“Did you get it yet?” Sasuke muttered against his lips, sending a somewhat unsure look at him before closing his eyes and kissing him once more.

He wasn’t so sure he did because his mind was still reeling, trying to piece things together and coming up with an answer each time that just couldn’t be _true_ because Sasuke wanted him? Just plain wanted him, out of his free will, didn’t mind this at all?

Impossible. It just _couldn’t_ be true, because what if he changed his mind in the morning? What if Naruto let go and poured everything into this and then had to take it back once the sun was up? He didn’t want that, and so he didn’t want to admit the spike of arousal in his groin when their hips connected and the amazing feeling of Sasuke’s tongue licking along his bottom lip.

“Are you thinking too much again?” Sasuke asked once he seemed to realize his lack of enthusiasm, sounding annoyed over Naruto not reciprocating as expected.

“Definitely,” he confessed, letting his hands slide down along the swing’s chains until his forearms rested against Sasuke’s hips. “I’m not a mind reader, you know.”

“You didn’t seem to have any problems with me kissing you earlier,” Sasuke pointed out, releasing his shirt to instead place one palm flat against the middle of his chest. “So what’s wrong now?”

Swallowing thickly, Naruto tried to figure out what it was, precisely, that bothered him so much.

“I’m not sure. It’s just…” He took a deep breath, trying his best to ignore the sizzling heat wherever their bodies touched. “Is that really what you were thinking about?”

Slowly, Sasuke raised the hand not on Naruto’s chest and pinched his nose.

“It was,” he replied, still annoyed. “Why, is it so weird for me to think about the stuff you said?”

“I know you said you needed to think about it on your own,” Naruto started, swatting Sasuke’s hand off his nose. “But saying it’s not terrible and then kissing me? I just wish I knew what you were thinking…”

Maybe Sasuke could tell that he was still feeling worried about everything, because he knocked his forehead against Naruto’s and heaved a sigh.

“Are you still hung up on whether or not I’ll leave?”

“I…” Naruto closed his eyes, trying to simply feel Sasuke’s presence, let it steady him. He didn’t know why he was feeling so distraught when Sasuke had reassured him again and again, but there wasn’t so much he could do about it. “Sometimes this bad feeling just comes back, like things could change in the future. I don’t think you’ll leave it’s just…”

“You’re worried something will happen that changes my mind.”

“Well yeah, but…” Squirming a little, Naruto fought with himself over whether or not to tell Sasuke, because even he wasn’t so sure he could deal with his feelings. “It’s more than wanting you to stay. And more than just kissing…”

He didn’t know how to properly explain it, and Sasuke offered no verbal help. Even so it was enough that he stood there, foreheads linked and breathing in tune, not moving even at the threat of an emotional talk.

“…you really thought about kissing me?”

Expecting another sigh, what he got instead was a shove to the ground. Which he maybe _should_ have expected but didn’t, and so he found himself on his butt looking up at Sasuke’s frown.

“I did think about it, and I wasn’t going to tell you that I thought about it but I did. And it’s just really frustrating that you need me to explain the same thing a hundred times over when I didn’t want to talk about it at all.”

Naruto stared at him, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, heart stuck in his throat.

“ _Sasuke_.”

“What.”

“You just talked about your _feelings_!”

If looks could kill… but Naruto was too busy fighting the grin spreading across his face to take notice. He jumped up, grabbing Sasuke’s face and pulling him close, ignoring his stumble and annoyance as he spun them in a circle once.

“You did it!”

“Naruto.”

“I can’t believe this! You actually made progress!”

“ _Naruto_.”

“I like it when you say my name.”

The admittance left his mouth before his brain could filter it, and he snapped it shut and took a step back. Sasuke didn’t seem to have noticed how breathless he’d sounded, how his fingertips quivered with the need to _touch_. While it was only a small step’s distance between them he ached to close it, but when he’d said more than kissing…

He really meant _everything_.

The only problem was that he didn’t know, exactly, what this everything _contained_.

“I know you like it, that’s why I try not to use it.”

It was such a Sasuke thing to say that he couldn’t help but laugh, a surprised little sound that barely made it past his lips before he swallowed it back down.

“Of course,” he joked, but there was no strength behind the words.

“Naruto,” Sasuke said again, in a tone that left no room for discussion. “Right now, you’re the one avoiding the subject.”

“Because I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

He refused to meet Sasuke’s eyes, crossing his arms instead and turning his back. It wasn’t that he avoided the subject, he just wanted to hear Sasuke talk instead of him. That was it, wasn’t it? He wanted to know what Sasuke was thinking so badly, wanted to peek into his head like when he accidentally touched him and let him feel the same thing…

Maybe then he’d understand what he was thinking himself, too.

“I don’t. But I…” Sasuke shifted, then slowly stepped closer until he was right behind Naruto. “I also feel like I _need_ to talk about it now.”

“Then talk,” Naruto whispered, holding his breath and feeling stiff all over.

When Sasuke shifted again it was obvious that he was struggling, and Naruto counted the seconds it took for him to start.

Twenty-seven.

“I figured you weren’t going to stop kissing me unless I actually disliked it,” he said, sounding awkward and rushed like he wanted it to be over already. “But I don’t. Dislike it I mean. So it’s okay if you don’t stop.”

Letting out the breath he’d been holding, Naruto slowly allowed his shoulders to relax as his arms unfolded. He closed his eyes, taking note of the promise of fresh rain in the air, goose bumps forming at his neck where Sasuke’s gaze pierced him.

“It’s okay,” he repeated, slowly, the words feeling strange on his tongue.

“It is.”

“What if-“ He paused to wet his lips, one hand coming up to grip at the other arm, fingers clenching in the soft fabric of his sweater. “What if I want more than that?”

“…more than stopping?”

Worrying his bottom lip between teeth, Naruto tried to force his frantic heartbeat into something a little less telling of his half-panicked state of mind.

“Yeah,” he breathed out, swallowing thickly. “Like, like continuing.”

“…continuing?” Sasuke echoed in disbelief, and of course he would choose _now_ to be dumb.

Whipping around he squeezed his eyes shut and, sure that his ears were burning, forced the words out before he choked on them.

“Like doing _it_.”

He could feel Sasuke’s blank stare even if he didn’t see it, bouncing a little on his heels as he waited for the implication to click.

“Do what.”

“ _It_ , Sasuke! _It!”_

Another deadpan stare this time and Naruto all but pulled his hair out as he stared at Sasuke in frustration.

“Oh my god, _Sasuke_ , I’m talking about- I- I can’t do this _fuck_ ,” he sank down into a squat, burying his face in his hands, asking himself if he could just go live in a desert or something when Sasuke suddenly inhaled sharply.

“Wait,” he said, squatting in front of Naruto and forcing his hands off his bright red face. “You’re talking about sex.”

Oh, life was painful, did he really deserve this? Sasuke with narrowed eyes, peering at him in the darkness and holding his poor wrists captive, throwing words around like Naruto wasn’t _suffering_.

“No, I’m talking about sharing a bowl of ramen,” he muttered under his breath, wishing Sasuke would just let him _go_ already so he could die from shame in a corner somewhere.

“Knowing you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were,” Sasuke told him drily, and _why_ wasn’t he freaking out?!

“Why aren’t you, I mean, don’t you have anything to say?” It was so difficult to ask, but confusion won over anxiety, especially when Sasuke stood up with hands casually in his pockets, snorting down at him.

“We’re not having sex, moron.”

Several things clicked at once in Naruto’s poor, befuddled brain.

  1. Sasuke never showed any interest in the porn he knew Naruto possessed.
  2. He had probably never masturbated in his life.
  3. Had he ever even had a wet dream or _anything_?
  4. Sasuke never showed interest in girls (or guys) and probably never listened when this was a conversation topic.
  5. Sasuke came from a clan who even married relatives in order to ensure the clan’s survival, probably not allowing any relationships not approved by the clan leaders.
  6. Did Sasuke even know what the word sex meant?????



“Um,” he said, “why not?”

Sasuke blinked down at him, and Naruto could clearly see the gears turn now that he was bathed in moonlight again. Still, he wore an expression like Naruto had grown an extra head (which was ridiculous because Naruto sucked at genjutsu) when he answered.

“Well, why would we?”

If anything, this only served to confuse Naruto more.

“Because it feels good? You usually want to when you- I mean, you seemed to kind of like it when I kissed your neck and you made that sound that time and…” trailing off he tried to pretend he hadn’t stammered in embarrassment somewhere in the middle, clenching his fists over his thighs when Sasuke glared at him.

“I did _not_ make a _sound_ ,” he hissed, though it was obvious that if he knew what Naruto referred to then he had most _definitely_ made one. “And this is stupid.”

Naruto winced, feeling all his wet dreams shrivel up and cry because they’d never come true. Of course he wouldn’t force Sasuke, but couldn’t he be a little less soul-crushing with his rejection of the idea?

 _He’ll come around_ , Kurama assured him, and Naruto threw an imaginary rock at him. A big one. Like a whole mountain.

“Let’s go sleep, there’s no point to this conversation.”

With those harsh final words, Sasuke spun on his heels and stalked off, leaving Naruto to deal with his crushed dreams alone.

 _Ah well, you can still kiss him,_ Kurama tried to console him with. It didn’t work.

“I’m fine,” he said aloud, staring with glassy eyes at the fence surrounding the backyard, a steady drizzle starting to fall from the sky. “This is fine.”

The rain wasn’t enough to soak him, but it clung to his hair and clothes uncomfortably, causing him to shiver. Not long after there was the sound of a window creaking open, by the side of the house.

“Idiot,” he heard Sasuke call, “get back here before you catch a cold. Even if you’re too dumb to get sick.”

Oh. A small smile took shape on his lips. Sure, Sasuke was crushing his fantasies but he was still _Sasuke_ , he still cared, still wanted to _kiss him_. And maybe Sasuke would cuddle with him now, if he was lucky.

And maybe, later on, Sasuke would reconsider.

If he was lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I made Charasuke's family so awful in this chapter, but consider this: they're all big shots in the village, while Charasuke is a smol barely-chuunin who never had to think about these things before. So while it doesn't excuse anything there's an explanation for all this, even though it was so hard to write that scene (⋟﹏⋞) 
> 
> As for Sasuke on the topic of sex... *shrugs* he'll figure it out later on. Dw you'll get the sexy times eventually haha. 
> 
> Next chapter I'm excited to let them try out their new outfits, and then Sasuke will be leaving for his mission... dun dun duuuun! 
> 
> Anyway, will Charasuke ever get over Menma? And how will the so-we-meet-again between him and Sasuke go??? Let's hope for the best (・ω・)b
> 
> Oh, and if you remember Muffin the cat, she still hasn't moved back home. And Bridget hates her a little more for each passing day. It's a struggle.


	34. When I'm with you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a rather long one, I think you will like it. Took me a long while to figure out how I wanted everything to play out, but I'm pretty happy with it.
> 
> Since last chapter I've spent a month sick, wrote on some other stories, fell in love with Yuri on Ice... I had to take a break from uni but it's good to be back again, even if I have an ungodly amount of academic papers in English to read. But! After this course is done, I only have two semesters of law school left! Which is why I'll be making my escape to Japan in July:3 Very excited! It's always good to procrastinate writing your thesis, isn't it... haha!
> 
> As always, I want to thank everyone for giving me such lovely feedback and encouragement. I'm going to do my best to make the coming chapters exciting! 
> 
> Speaking of reviews, I've been getting a couple of them in Spanish lately, and I just want to let you know that it's totally fine if you want to review in Spanish or French instead of English. I'm not good enough to answer in anything but English, but if you worry about your English level or just want to talk to me in your own language, go ahead! :3

Sasuke was in the kitchen, keeping his distance to everyone else. It was hard, but his experience as a ninja was at least good for _something_ since so far the kids had seemed content with ignoring him. Naruto on the other hand was everywhere, pretty much, running around fetching food and helping to feed the kids and whatever and– oh wait, there were actually two of him. Deciding that it was really too early in the morning for dealing with that, Sasuke concentrated on his bowl of rice with fried egg. There was a tomato on the counter next to him that Naruto had thrown at him upon entering the kitchen, telling him to hold on to it since it was the last one.

It was a nice gesture, he supposed, and he may or may not have allowed Naruto a couple of kisses as they prepared things for Iruka. Naruto was, unsurprisingly, not allowed to cook anything on his own.

As he tuned out the loud chatter going on around him he also tried his best to pretend he hadn’t woken up locked in Naruto’s arms. He’d been forced to perform a body replacement technique with a pillow since the idiot refused to let go of him. Once he’d exited the bathroom again, Naruto had been awake and pouting at him, mumbling things that Sasuke didn’t care about (but they were clearly about how Naruto had missed out on waking up together with Sasuke).

“Yikes, you look like that egg insulted your face.”

Barely glancing up, Sasuke merely took a small step to the side as Naruto bumped hips with him. Naturally, Naruto followed until they were hip to hip and arm to arm again – even foot to foot.

“Ever heard of personal space, moron?” he muttered, but even he could tell there was no strength behind the words.

“Ever tried being nice in the morning?”

The counter Sasuke had chosen to lean against was further into the kitchen, the table filled with kids still in clear view but the distance at least provided some privacy for conversation.

“I haven’t killed anyone, have I?”

He met Naruto’s eyes, pleased when the other was gaping at him.

“You made a joke.”

“It’s possible.”

“It wasn’t even a good joke.” Naruto’s eyebrows were knitted together, but his lips were twitching like he was trying hard not to laugh. “There are _children_ here. Besides, you would never kill someone from being in a shitty mood.”

“You don’t know that,” Sasuke countered, feeling a tension he hadn’t even noticed drain from his shoulders. “Now shut up and eat your breakfast.”

Naruto rolled his eyes but dug into his own bowl, for once not bothering to argue. At least it was the real Naruto, his clone over by the table helping Iruka with some tiny kid who kept trying to throw food at the others. Sadly it only took a couple of minutes for Naruto to finish eating, even after refilling the bowl once.

“So, I’m helping out with the kids today, wanna join in?”

Shrugging, Sasuke picked up his tomato and considered if he should slice it before eating or not.

“I guess I can survive watching you get ordered around by a bunch of kids.”

“They’re not-!” Naruto lowered his voice, leaning in closer to hiss at him. “They’re not ordering me around, okay? They love me. I’m the coolest person they know!”

Raising an eyebrow, knowing full well that Naruto had watched his clone suffer a bowl of miso soup to the head a minute earlier, Sasuke took a delicate bite of his tomato. It was a good one, not too soft with a fresh taste. A drop of juice ran down his thumb and he licked it up, catching Naruto staring at him with an odd look.

“What?” he asked, taking another bite as Naruto shook his head with closed eyes, a frustrated expression on his face afterwards.

“Do you _have_ to eat it like that?” he asked, a hint of pain in his voice, one hand waving at Sasuke’s tomato.

“Well I can’t exactly swallow it in one go,” Sasuke replied, sucking a little on the opening he’d created to prevent more juice from spilling out.

For some reason Naruto sucked in a breath, then grabbed both their bowls with a suspiciously red face.

“I’ll just go wash these,” he said, turning on his heel and marching off towards the sink.

Sasuke stared after him for a second, wondering if this strange behavior was cause for concern or not, though he soon decided that the tomato was more important. Naruto acting strange wasn’t anything new after all, and after last night he had decided that he was better off not asking.

Soon enough they were outside with the kids, one Naruto-clone pushing the small one who threw soup on one of the swings, another trying to wrestle a girl with the same red hair as the small one in order to stop her from climbing the building.

“I won’t fall I promise!” she yelled, until the clone put her in a secure hold before jumping up on the roof, which made her angry yells instantly turn delighted instead.

“You’re spoiling them,” Sasuke commented, leaning against the wall of a small tool shed. “What was that about them not ordering you around?”

Naruto was rubbing his hands against the cold wind, having spent the past minutes cursing the sudden change in temperature. Hearing Sasuke’s words he punched his arm, then immediately grabbed onto it for warmth.

“I should have put on a sweater,” he whined, huddling a little closer. “I thought it would be warm since it’s sunny!”

“Weren’t you listening to Iruka earlier? He told you to make sure the kids dressed warm since there’s a cold front coming in this week.”

“Well yeah but they’re _kids_. And like, days ago it was too warm for sweaters!”

“Just go and get one, dobe.”

“I’m fine!”

Naruto was still holding onto his arm, with both hands now. It was probably because he was standing still, since his clones didn’t seem to have any problems.

“You’re holding my arm.”

As if to further prove his point, Naruto moved even closer and leaned his cheek on Sasuke’s shoulder, rubbing his nose into the chuunin vest he wore.

“But you’re so nice and warm, Sasuke!”

Blue eyes stared up at him innocently, and Sasuke felt no guilt as he kicked the idiot off.

“Sweater,” he deadpanned, leaving no room for discussion.

Dejected, Naruto dragged his feet towards the front of the house, mumbling to himself along the way. Sasuke caught himself rubbing his arm where Naruto’s hands had been, feeling cold all of a sudden. Pushing the thought away he swept his eyes over the garden slash playground again. One clone had taken what looked to be the three oldest kids for a run, while another played some sort of game with two girls who seemed more interested in arguing with each other than pay attention to the game.

He was only granted about three minutes of peace before a loud voice carried over from the other side of the house.

“Sasukeeeeeee! Get over here!”

Sighing, he refrained from pinching his nose and settled for an accusing look up towards the empty sky. This mission couldn’t start fast enough.

When he rounded the corner of the building he stopped short, one foot hovering awkwardly in the air. Naruto was having an animated conversation with his mother, holding a large paper bag in his arms that made waving his hands around difficult. No matter how much he told his body to move, to walk over like it was nothing, he found himself unable to do so. A lump was forming in his throat, and he should be _used_ to this now.

It didn’t help that he hadn’t been entirely honest last night, either. Sure, he’d thought about kissing Naruto, but it wasn’t the _only_ scenario running through his mind. Seeing Naruto talking to his mother reminded him of things he simply couldn’t have, a future reality his hands could never reach.

Slowly putting his foot down on the ground, attempting to steady himself, Sasuke swallowed the lump along with everything that had happened yesterday. If he allowed those thoughts to float to the surface in daylight, if he saw possibilities in these everyday moments…

“Oi, bastard! Don’t just stand there staring!”

Naruto was waving at him, the bag pressed securely against his chest, and Mikoto’s smile was sweet.

He wavered. For no reason at all, he felt himself faltering, fumbling for the cracked pieces of his armor to shove them back together. Naruto seemed to notice, of course he did, because he placed the bag on the ground and walked over with a frown on his face.

“Sasuke?”

Oh, how he hated emotions! When they struck him all sudden and unforgiving, not caring about his efforts to keep them in control, like a silent blade twisting between his shoulders until everything came pouring out.

He vaguely noticed Naruto grabbing his hands before warmth flooded his chakra paths, shivers running down his spine as his body relaxed in stages. It left him feeling tired, as well as angry with himself.

“I’m okay,” he muttered, avoiding Naruto’s eyes and shaking him off.

Naruto didn’t say anything, for which he was grateful since he wouldn’t know how to explain himself. Orochimaru had told him he would be feeling emotions easier, but nothing about this was _easy_. In fact, _easy_ had been shutting off, wrapping himself up in darkness until the shadows dancing in the corners of his eyes had become familiar. And then Naruto just _had_ to exist, and they just _had_ to end up here, and frankly Sasuke was tired of living in this dreamlike place.

The other half of the truth was that he never wanted to leave, and every time he was reminded of that fact he could feel something cold squeeze uncomfortably around his heart.

Doing his best to push all thoughts away, he walked over to Mikoto. Upon closer inspection she looked a little strained as well, but her smile was genuine as she leaned in for half a hug.

“Good morning,” he said, fending off any questions before she could manage to ask them. “What’s in the bag?”

“Some of the clothes are already finished!” Naruto exclaimed, lifting the bag up again and opening it for Sasuke to peek inside.

“Just the everyday wear,” Mikoto added, Naruto nodding several times in confirmation. “The rest should be done by tonight.”

“I see.”

“Oh, and before I forget.” Mikoto reached under her shirt to reveal a folded paper. “The mission details from Fugaku. You remember when and where to meet, right?”

Sasuke nodded, accepting the paper from her. It felt heavy in his hand, edges sharp somehow.

“I’ll come by later with the rest of the clothes, alright?”

With another smile and a small wave she left, passing through the gate just as one of the Naruto clones completed a lap with the kids in tow.

“Hello, Mikoto-san!” they all said politely as they ran past, and the girl Sasuke had a vague memory of being the oldest waved at them as well.

“Okay kids, we’re picking up the pace!” the clone yelled, clapping his hands before going a little faster.

“We’re still going slow as hell!” one of the boys yelled back, sticking his tongue out when Naruto (the real one) indignantly shouted “Language, Mitsuru!” at him.

Sasuke recognized him as the kid that had knocked on their door and called him ‘Naruto’s guy’, and figured he was the troublemaker type.

“That kid, I swear, no respect,” Naruto muttered next to him, and Sasuke, fairly sure he deserved it, reached out to slap the back of his head. “What was that for?!”

“I’m going inside to read this,” Sasuke said instead of answering the question, the paper crumpling slightly as he turned towards the door.

“Huh? Can’t you just read it out here?”

His deadpan glare at least managed to make Naruto blush a little, but sadly the other _supposed_ ninja followed him inside. Not bothering with slippers he headed into the living room, a small struggle ensuing when Naruto wanted to read the instructions too.

One foot holding the idiot in place on the floor, Sasuke unfolded the note and scanned the contents.

 

 **Mission destination** : Land of Tea, north-west border area

 **Mission base** : Kakunodate village, Fire country

**_Mission 1_ **

**Mission type** : Capturing of missing nin

 **Description** : Reported sightings of Suna-affiliated missing nin Kazunari. Capture alive and bring back to Konoha’s prison. Beware of his sand techniques.

**_Mission 2_ **

**Mission type** : Information gathering/reconnaissance

 **Description** : Strange chakra signatures have been reported along the border. Three attacks confirmed. Unidentified attackers. No casualties. Investigate the identity and purpose of the attackers if possible.

 **Assigned ninja** :

Uchiha Fugaku (team leader)

Uchiha Naori

Uchiha Sasuke

Uzumaki Menma

_To Sasuke: As you can see an extra mission has been added. While on the mission, pay special attention to Menma. I will explain more later. Burn this after reading it._

_Fugaku_

 

“Dammit, Sasuke! What does it say?”

Not sure of what to say, Sasuke lifted his foot and wordlessly handed Naruto the document with instructions. He sat down on one sofa, pinching the bridge of his nose and glaring at nothing in particular. _Of course_ it couldn’t just be a simple mission. Thoughts racing, he glanced down at Naruto’s face, several emotions flickering across it as he read.

“I knew there was something weird about that guy,” he muttered, finally sitting up and crossing his legs. “And he’ll explain later? This smells weird.”

“It smells like they’ve been keeping things from us,” Sasuke agreed, motioning for Naruto to hold the paper up as he went through the hand signs for his fire technique. “We’ve been careless.”

Naruto barely flinched when the paper caught on fire, holding it by one corner and shaking his fingers to put the flames out just before they could burn his fingers. He rolled the remaining little piece into a ball, then threw it at Sasuke’s forehead.

Puffing out a final breath of fire, Sasuke burned the rolled-up corner into dust before it could hit its target.

“Well, what were we supposed to do? We’re at their mercy, aren’t we? I don’t sense any ill intent from them so I wouldn’t worry so much if I were you.”

 “You say you know there’s something weird about Menma but no one is giving off anything bad?”

“Oh, shut up. I was pretty sure I just don’t like him because he creeps me out.”

“Hmm.”

Folding his hands, Sasuke frowned as he collected his thoughts.

“Let’s go through what we know so far. We end up here through some kind of teleportation, but we don’t know who did it. Who do we know with the amount of chakra to pull it off?”

“Uh, I guess Menma? Well, my mom has half of Kurama so maybe both together? But what about Obito! He knows how to teleport!”

“Yes, but why bring us here? Kaguya could be involved, too, and we have no idea what she wants.”

Naruto grabbed his knees, pulling his legs up so he could knock them back and forth as he chewed his lips in thought.

“So like, we don’t know if the good side or the bad side got us here.”

“ _If_ there is a good and bad side,” Sasuke pointed out. “Besides, for all we know this could be some elaborate genjutsu.”

“ _Ugh,”_ Naruto groaned, leaning his chin on one knee. “How about I hit you and we see if you wake up, then?”

“Very funny. I guess it doesn’t matter if this is a real world or not, the problem is still there.”

“And the problem is?”

Sasuke kicked Naruto’s shin, rolling his eyes when Naruto pouted in mock pain.

“Fiiiine,” Naruto drawled, stretching his legs out instead and poking Sasuke’s toes with his own. “I just hate this whole ‘waiting around’ thing, and I still don’t like that you’re going on that mission. Especially after reading that.”

“You know,” Sasuke started carefully, scrutinizing Naruto’s face to judge his reaction. ”We could be right where the enemy wants us to be. How do we know Konoha isn’t behind this somehow? They know about you from last time you were here. As peaceful as it seems, we don’t know anything about what the rest of the world looks like outside these walls.”

Blinking at him, Naruto left his toes on top of Sasuke’s, pressing down a little. It felt nice, even if Sasuke would never admit it out loud.

“Honestly? I don’t want to think about it. I just end up feeling like absolute shit every time I do. Can’t we just, I don’t know, pretend for just one day that things are _normal_?”

It was Sasuke’s turn to blink at Naruto, taking in the barely there tremble in his lips, the way his fingers clenched around the fabric of his pants.

“Pretend we’re not in a different dimension?”

Naruto nodded, looking at their feet instead of meeting his eyes.

“Pretend it’s perfectly normal for us to sit in the living room of Iruka’s orphanage, getting clothes handed to us by my mother?”

“I know, _I know,_ okay?” Naruto ducked his head, sliding his hands down his thighs to grip underneath his knees instead. “It’s super weird. Nothing is normal, I _know_. Sometimes I can forget but then I’m reminded again and I just, I feel like there’s a _hole_ in my _chest_ because we could have had this, couldn’t we? I kind of wish it’s a genjutsu because if this place is real and we go back-“

He stopped, sucking in a breath before slowly letting it out again, shoulders moving with it.

Feeling uneasy, Sasuke was glad he’d stopped on his own. As much as he had told Naruto that of course he was going back with him, he knew he wasn’t putting much effort into figuring things out in order to do so. Not as much as he should, at least. Then again, where would they even start? They really did know nothing, apart from the fact that Kaguya was somehow involved, and Menma was the only ‘weird’ person around…

“Hey, why is Menma called Menma and not Naruto? Everyone else is the same, or don’t exist in our world.”

“Who knows?” Naruto shrugged, clenching and unclenching his fingers. “I hate Menma. Eating it, I mean. I even complained about it before I ended up here last time. And the other Sakura wasn’t in the village last time, either.”

“Right. It’s annoying that we can’t ask Obito about it, he would at least be able to tell us where this world came from.”

“I bet he could get us home, too.”

Falling silent for a while, Sasuke allowed himself to wonder what things were like, back in their own Konoha. They’d been gone for long enough now that surely people were getting worried. Would it occur to them that they were here, in this alternate dimension that Obito had somehow reached? Or had they simply decided that Sasuke kidnapped Naruto because he was evil like that… The thought brought a rueful little smile to his lips, Naruto’s toes still keeping his warm.

“Do you think everything’s okay at home? I bet Sakura-chan and Baa-chan are really worried.”

“I’m sure they think it’s all my fault,” Sasuke said lightly, leaning back into the couch with a sigh. “And I’m sure Tsunade is cursing you for keeping her at work even longer.”

“What do you mean?” Naruto switched to sitting on his knees, leaning against Sasuke’s legs to peer up at him. “It’s not like they were going to make me Hokage on my birthday or something.”

Freezing, Sasuke took a moment to backtrack that thought. It wasn’t something he’d given much thought because he preferred not thinking about what things would be like when Naruto became Hokage, but people had been talking for weeks before Naruto’s birthday and most of them seemed to expect an announcement of some sort. Maybe not to make him Hokage right away, but soon enough it would happen, whether he liked it or not.

“No, probably not. You’re still way too dumb for that.”

“Bastard!” Naruto’s fist connected painfully with his arm, and he suppressed the urge to rub it. “I could so totally become Hokage right now!”

“Not when you talk like a baby.”

Instead of the expected anger, Naruto groaned and face-planted into Sasuke’s leg.

“It’s going to be hell to come back,” he mumbled, surprising Sasuke. “Kind of makes me want to stay here.”

“It’s not going to be hell,” he argued, though it sounded weak. “Try and focus on the present instead.”

“Don’t wanna,” Naruto whined, wriggling around a bit and rubbing his face into Sasuke’s pant leg. “Can’t we just stay in bed for like, a week?”

“And do what, _exactly_?” he asked, tone as dry as the small pile of ashes on the floor.

“Um,” Naruto said intelligibly, picking at Sasuke’s right sock. “Sleep?”

Heaving a sigh, Sasuke combed his fingers through Naruto’s hair, ignoring the noises of complaint when he tugged at a knot.

“We still need to talk about our options,” he said, tilting Naruto’s face towards him when he tried to hide it.

“You’re ripping my hair off,” Naruto whined, but made no move to get out of his hold. “And since when are you so interested in talking, huh? You _hate_ talking.”

“I hate going into things blindly even more.”

“Wow, I think that’s the most hypocritical thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“I’m surprised you even know what that words means.”

“Teme.”

“Dobe.”

“Can I kiss you?”

Sasuke frowned, holding Naruto at a distance when he tried to move closer.

“No? We’re not done yet.”

“ _I’m_ done,” the idiot argued, pushing his hand off and crawling into his lap with a smug grin. “And I’ve decided we’re going to kiss instead.”

To his great embarrassment, Sasuke only managed a small noise of objection before Naruto’s lips on his mouth and Naruto’s hands in his hair and Naruto’s thighs clenching around his hips somehow managed to render him completely useless.

He would deny that it was nicer than trying to deal with the upcoming mission, but it was sort of difficult when his brain didn’t function anymore. He didn’t even realize his hands had found purchase in Naruto’s shirt by the small of his back until he pulled him closer, Naruto humming happily in response. Then Naruto’s hands slid down to his cheek, mouths separating as his head was forcefully tilted backwards. He felt the faintest brush of lips along his neck, the hot breath washing over his apparently sensitive skin causing him to _shudder_. It was all he could do not to grab Naruto’s head and smash it against his neck, holding his breath in shock for a second at the thought.

A second was all he got, however, before a throat cleared awkwardly.

“Sorry for interrupting, but I’m not sure this is the right time or place for that sort of thing.”

Iruka didn’t look angry, but Sasuke was _mortified_. Appalled, even, at his own lack of control.

“We’re so sorry!” Naruto shouted, shooting up from Sasuke’s lap, red all the way to his ears. “We’ll go back to work right away!”

“Alright, you do that,” Iruka said, lips twitching into an amused smile that, somehow, made Sasuke feel even worse about the whole situation.

His fingers itched with the desire to throw Naruto as far away as possible.

His lips, however, had a different idea _entirely_.

xxx

Sasuke didn’t want to get out of bed. Technically he already _was_ , since he was on Sakura’s couch, but he stayed buried underneath layers of blankets even as the VHS player’s digital clock blinked 11:30 at him. Moving was not an appealing thought right now. Every time his stomach growled he told himself it was too much effort, and eventually it gave up.

He wasn’t happy about being awake. Sakura had left early morning for a shift at the hospital, working steadily towards her dream of becoming a great medic. She made having a dream so simple, and even though he knew her life had definitely had its rough patches, he couldn’t help but feel jealous that she at least had found her calling in life.

What did Sasuke have? No skills whatsoever. The worst part was that he’d always dreamed of being recognized by his family, of being included, being trusted with important tasks.

 _Not like this_.

Sakura was right about one thing though; he’d never told his family what Menma was to him. He’d covered up their closeness, kept up appearances by flirting with girls, and yet. They _knew_ they’d been together, because they’d been spying on Menma. He should have known that something weird was going on when he kept being paired up with Menma for missions the past year, but he’d simply thought they noticed how they worked well together.

_They think Menma is still being controlled… and still sent me off alone with him?_

Groaning into his hands, he simply couldn’t make sense of his parents’ logic. There _was_ no logic, really. Unless, they thought Menma had feelings for him, and would let his guard down around him. And well, he had, but not in a strange way. Just a way that made Sasuke think they had _something_ – but it didn’t matter now. Menma wasn’t talking to him, and if his family thought he had some secrets to share, then they were sorely wrong. Sure, they had talked. Sure, he knew things about Menma that other people didn’t.

But Menma having some kind of evil plan he kept hidden? That was just ridiculous.

And then! Naruto and the other Sasuke! What was he supposed to figure out that they simply couldn’t ask them?!

He could feel a headache coming, and pulled the blankets over his head to block out the light. In the dark, he let himself think about Menma like he hadn’t done since that day. The _real_ Menma, not the cheerfully polite one in front of his parents, not the scoffing, superior one in front of their friends. Not the Menma that went through missions by careful calculation, but always lost his head in a fight.

No, he thought about the quiet Menma, the one who woke up at night to stare at the sky, the one who slept with a frown on his face that nothing Sasuke did could help smoothen out.

He thought about murmured conversations that were tucked away in the morning, Menma always listening, always holding him as tight as he needed.

Did Menma know what was going on? He never talked about the future, never told Sasuke what he thought of those times he stared at the stars with eyes far away. It had always intimidated him a bit, that there were clearly parts of Menma that Sasuke couldn’t reach, thoughts and feelings that weren’t to be shared. For his part, he probably shared too much. It was just easy, somehow. And look where that sharing had gotten him…

If he thought about it more closely, there were a lot of instances where things hadn’t been precisely great between them. Menma liked to complain about things that Sasuke couldn’t relate to, and he always felt inferior skill-wise. Even so, he’d thought the connection they shared during sex was enough, but apparently he’d read too much into it. Or rather, Menma must have realized he didn’t actually need Sasuke for anything, and then he didn’t have to pretend he cared anymore.

Well, if Menma wanted to sleep with Sai, then Sasuke didn’t care at all. And if he wanted to be such an ass, then he could forget about Sasuke telling him about the village suspecting him of being a traitor of some sort. He was better off without him, anyway. He could find someone else, someone who _actually cared_ for real.

Still, Menma’s words had stung, because he knew his weaknesses and knew where to aim for maximum effect. In hindsight, Sasuke felt like everything he’d said was true. They never defined their relationship, never did things together in the public eye. And while Sasuke didn’t sleep with anyone who asked anymore, it _had_ been true for a while. It was how things started, after all.

A disastrous mission where they got separated from the others, a snarky comment from Menma ( _no wonder you messed up, all you do is sleep around_ ), the angry retort from Sasuke ( _what, don’t tell me you’re angry because I’m not interested in you_ ), escalating into a rather fantastic fight.

Of course, Sasuke didn’t stand a chance when it came to a fight with fists, but the attraction had been clear as day and to Sasuke it felt like a victory. Nothing other than the fight happened that time, but Sasuke kept pushing and pushing, only because he wanted to rub it in Menma’s face that he wasn’t better than anyone else just because he claimed to not find Sasuke attractive.

Sasuke might not have much, but he _did_ have his looks for good and for bad.

Though, now that he had met his alternate self, there was this feeling creeping up on him that he was merely a pretty face among many, whereas the other Sasuke…

Well, he was getting off track. But now that the other Sasuke had entered his thoughts, he started feeling even more pathetic. Would Sasuke wallow in bed because people thought he was weak? Unlikely. Whatever else there was to think about him, he had a drive that was almost frightening. If his mother and Naruto hadn’t shown up, he was pretty sure they would have been at it until he passed out.

Which reminded him of the fact that he’d asked Sasuke to train him today as well.

Heaving a deep sigh, he slowly made his way into a sitting position, body stiff and sluggish. It would be worse the second day, but he also knew the best way to make it better would be to exercise a little. Emphasis on _little_. He was pretty sure that Sasuke didn’t understand that concept.

On the other hand, if he worked himself to exhaustion today, too, then there would be less time and energy to think about all the things he didn’t want to think about.

His stomach made a last, feeble attempt at gaining his attention, and with a deep breath, Sasuke headed for Sakura’s kitchen.

 

An hour later he was outside, heading for the same training ground as yesterday. While he’d decided to get some training done, he wasn’t so sure he wanted Sasuke to watch him. He’d had enough blows to his self esteem lately without a better version of himself telling him to redo the same move over and over again for the second day in a row.

Sadly he wasn’t the only one outside, and he had to duck behind corners several times to avoid relatives and girls belonging to his fan club. He thought he could see Sai in the distance, and he caught himself before he could run over and cause a scene. It wasn’t Sai’s fault, and Sasuke wasn’t – refused to be – that petty. He was moving on, yeah that was exactly it. Moving on and thinking only about himself for a while.

It was something Sakura had stressed last night, that he always let people run him over. Not the most encouraging thing to hear, but in the light of day it was easier to acknowledge things for what they were. He didn’t want to be ordered around, didn’t want his family to think he would accept just about anything – if only he could say it like the other Sasuke!

_No one tells me what I can and can’t do._

Reaching the training ground, he went through warm up exercises, trying to clear his mind while stretching. He kept coming back to that sentence though, replaying it inside his head until it sounded as if the other Sasuke stood right next to him. But how do you become a person no one dares give orders to? A person who can do whatever and get away with it… Wasn’t that impossible?

I wasn’t just the physical strength, he thought. There was more to the other Sasuke, his whole attitude, the way he carried himself, like confidence was ingrained into his very being. How could he even _begin_ to try and reach a level like that?

Sitting down on the ground, he held onto his ankles and tried to decide what he should practice on instead. There were a lot of things he needed to improve, and when he’d stayed in the same position for several minutes, finding each idea less appealing than the last, it sort of dawned on him that he didn’t even _like_ training. It was a necessary evil, something he’d been forced to do for most of his life.

How do you become great at something you don’t even like?

For a lovely minute, Sasuke contemplated quitting. Doing something else. Hanging out with people who weren’t ninjas, who didn’t care about ten different ways to throw a shuriken.

As nice as the thought was, it was anything but realistic.

_…as my son you’re also the son of our clan’s leader…_

The memory of his mother’s words brought an unpleasant squeeze in his chest, reminding him that whatever he decided to do, he would always be lesser in comparison to Itachi, to Shisui, to the other ambitious members of their clan. He wasn’t oblivious enough to not notice how people talked about him, talked _to_ him, like he was still a small child. Someone who _should_ be doing great things, _should_ have great expectations on his shoulders.

But he wasn’t, and he didn’t. He wasn’t next in line to lead the police force, was definitely not in the running for future Hokage. He probably wouldn’t even make jounin, and the thought tasted bitter in his throat.

It was, eventually, this thought that made him get up again. _Not even jounin_ , he mocked himself and gathered chakra underneath his shoes. _You’re nothing like him_. Jumping into the air he closed his eyes, picturing the surrounding trees with his mind as he plucked a few shuriken from his weapon’s pouch.

But if he wasn’t like the other Sasuke, if he couldn’t be the way his family wanted him to be, if the current him wasn’t good for anything…

_Then just who am I supposed to be?_

xxx

Sasuke had barely said a word to him after that incident with Iruka, and Naruto had wisely not suggested Ichiraku’s when they were handed some money and told to go eat somewhere else. Maybe Iruka thought Sasuke scared the kids, maybe he felt bad for catching them like that, either way dinner hadn’t been much help in getting Sasuke to stop his silent treatment.

Though it wasn’t as if Naruto was worried about that. Sasuke had a tendency to take things out on him when he felt uncomfortable, because usually it _was_ Naruto’s fault. And yeah, maybe making out in Iruka’s living room hadn’t been his best idea, but the only regret he had was getting caught. The smartest strategy should be to simply wait it out, until Sasuke either forgot about it or decided he’d been punished enough.

He’d spent dinner mostly thinking about anything that wasn’t their talk earlier, their current situation, or the fact that Sasuke looked incredibly good even when annoyed.

Whenever the last thought slipped through he expected backlash from Kurama, but the fox seemed to be asleep. That, or he was building up for something better. Maybe he should start charging him rent.

Back at the orphanage, Iruka handed them a large cardboard box courtesy of Mikoto. Naruto had already switched into some of the clothes she’d left them in the morning, thankful that he didn’t need to borrow Iruka’s anymore. At least his jumpsuit was clean enough to wear again. Not that there was anything wrong with Iruka’s clothes, but the pants were always a tad too long and it reminded him that even if he’d grown a bit the last year, he was still shorter than his old teacher.

Shorter than _Sasuke_ , even if it was only by a couple centimeters.

“Wanna check them out?” he asked as they entered his room, a little hesitant in case Sasuke would rather just sleep his irritation off.

“Might as well,” Sasuke sighed, and Naruto was relieved that the silence seemed to be over. “But as long as you didn’t get me anything orange I don’t think it matters.”

Snorting, Naruto placed the box on top of the bed and eagerly tore it open.

“You have so little faith in me,” he pouted, pulling out a pair of orange pants identical to the ones he already wore. “Maybe I should just pretend I got you these, huh?”

“It’s bad enough you got them for yourself,” Sasuke deadpanned.

Still, he sat down on the bed and waited for Naruto to continue.

“I got myself a black pair, too! If I have to go on a mission it’s probably better to blend in a bit.”

“What’s that, actual logic? I’d be impressed if I thought you would actually wear them.”

Scowling, Naruto made quick work of his pants before pulling on the dark pair. They were as comfortable as the ones he’d tried at the shop, ending just above his ankles. The biggest differences from his usual pants were that these tightened a bit from underneath his knees and down, and the pockets were deeper.

“You were saying?”

Sasuke shrugged, seemingly not very impressed. Maybe because Naruto still wore his jumpsuit jacket, and any combination with orange seemed to rub him the wrong way.

“When you told me about new outfits, I thought you’d do more than maybe wear differently colored pants.”

“Shut up, my jumpsuit is great! I’ve saved the world in it, you know!”

“…right.”

Sasuke might _sound_ like he didn’t care, but Naruto could see the hint of a smile on his face. It was enough encouragement to continue digging through the box at least, and he eagerly went for his favorite item.

“Ta-da!” he said, holding up the robe in front of Sasuke. It was dark red, short-sleeved and complete with black flames along the bottom hem. “Mikoto said no one really wears these anymore, but it looks just like the one I got from the frogs and Jiraiya, so I decided to get it!”

When Sasuke stared blank-faced at him, he pulled it on and struck a pose.

“It’s cool, isn’t it? It’s fine, I know you want to say it!”

“You look ridiculous,” Sasuke muttered with a roll of his eyes, turning towards the box. “Isn’t there anything useful in here?”

“Hands off!” Naruto slapped Sasuke’s hands away, pulling the box closer to himself. “I’ll get to your stuff soon enough!”

Another eye roll, but Sasuke patiently crossed his legs on the bed and gave him an expectant (though kind of mocking) look. Setting the robe aside for now, Naruto picked up a couple long-sleeved shirts he’d gotten for himself. Two orange ones, one white at Mikoto’s insistence, and all three had the Uzumaki swirl on the back.

“I wanted to get a mesh shirt like I usually wear, but these were actually more comfortable. The old geezer said something about how the fabric dries quickly so you don’t get as sweaty.”

“A _white_ shirt?”

Sasuke looked baffled, and Naruto grinned at the sight. Unzipping his jacket he changed into the white shirt, frowning a little at how it clung to him like a second skin. Maybe it just needed stretching a bit.

“Well?” he asked, biting his lip when Sasuke stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

“It’s too weird.”

“What, me wearing black and white is weird?”

“Why would you even get a white shirt, that’s idiotic.”

“Hey, it was your mother’s idea!”

When Sasuke’s face scrunched up in doubt, Naruto refrained from telling him it was more that she’d joked about how white would be even more offensive in a fight since it told the other person he didn’t even expect to get dirty. He’d thought it would be fun to challenge Menma in it, but pissing off Sasuke was good, too.

“I never thought I’d say this, but you should probably stick to orange.”

Needless to say, Naruto was speechless. Was Sasuke sick? Did he really look that terrible in black and white? Sure, he hadn’t really planned on wearing these clothes together, and there was a black one in there somewhere to match with the orange pants anyway.

“Wait, put on the robe,” Sasuke continued, which was even stranger.

“Huh?”

“Just do it.”

Doing as told, Naruto pulled on the robe, nervously patting it down as Sasuke spent a minute scrutinizing him from head to toe. Sasuke looked troubled, glaring at his chest as if it offended him somehow.

“You absolutely can’t wear this together.”

“ _Huh?!_ ”

Nodding to himself, Sasuke pursed his lips.

“You heard me.”

“The fuck? I’ll wear what I want!”

“But you love orange.”

Naruto was about to keep arguing, when something about the way Sasuke averted his eyes with clenched fists sent his heart into overdrive.

“Sasuke, do you, um, I mean, do I look good in this?”

“I just told you _not_ to wear this, idiot.”

But Sasuke’s cheeks were colored a faint pink, and Naruto thought he might die from happiness. If Sasuke found him attractive, then he would gladly sacrifice orange. Well, maybe not every day. Then the effect might be lost, after all.

“Let’s continue!” he happily chirped, pulling out a jacket similar to his old one. “What do you think about this one?”

“Good. Wear it.”

Snickering, feeling oh so smug about Sasuke having a hard time meeting his eyes, Naruto threw it on the bed instead. Unlike his usual one, this one was orange from mid-chest and up as well as the arms. The cuffs and zipper were black, matching the part below the chest. He liked it because it was the same but reversed. It was good to switch things up once in a while, and Mikoto had argued that it would look better together with the orange pants. She also said that anything orange would look terrible with the robe, but he really didn’t care.

He’d always thought ‘the more color the better’, but seeing Sasuke’s reaction now, he might have to reconsider. And hadn’t Sasuke had a similar reaction when seeing him in Iruka’s non-orange clothes? He would have to explore this more later.

“That’s most of my stuff, ready to see yours?”

He found his own black shirt, throwing it on top of the other discarded items. There was a piece of fabric separating the layers of what was his and what was Sasuke’s, decorated with the shop’s name in calligraphy. Carefully folding it before putting it aside, he wondered how fancy the place must be to bother with things like that. Everything was much more comfortable and form-fitting than he was used to, anyway.

“Pants!” he said, holding out one dark blue pair and one black towards Sasuke. “I know you’ll probably wear the uniform a lot anyway, but Mikoto kind of insisted we got spares.”

“I see,” was all Sasuke said to that, inspecting the pants without further comment.

They were similar to Naruto’s, but slightly longer and even tighter by the ankles. He hoped it was how Sasuke liked it, since he’d been wearing a similar style while away from the village.

“Got you lots of shirts, too.” Returning to the box he picked them out one by one. “Dark blue, wine red, moss green, plum purple, aaaaand a baby blue one!”

Unsurprisingly, Sasuke glared death at him.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just list off an entire color chart,” he muttered, accepting all of them except the baby blue one. “And that last one you can get rid of.”

“But Sasuke! You need more color in your life! Just wear it casually!”

He turned the shirt around, waving the backside at Sasuke where an Uchiha fan was beautifully stitched to the fabric.

“I think you’ll look great in it.” He nodded eagerly to emphasize his belief, but Sasuke was not convinced.

Instead of replying, Sasuke stood up and stripped to his boxers. Taken by surprise, Naruto didn’t really have it in him to look away. All that tantalizing skin stretched taut over muscle… Oh, if only he could spend a day or two just touching him!

 _I try so hard not to listen to you,_ Kurama piped up. _I should get paid for this. In fact, if I got a thousand ryo every time you thought about touching Sasuke I’d be able to buy a whole castle._

 _Then please go live in that castle and stop making fun of me!_ Naruto hissed back, sad when Sasuke’s chest disappeared from view underneath the wine red shirt.

And damn, did he look good in it. Naruto shut his mouth with a snap, hoping he wasn’t drooling. The way the color contrasted with his skin was just mouthwatering, but luckily Sasuke didn’t seem to notice since he was busy moving around to test the clothes.

“I guess they’ll do,” he sighed, sitting back down.

Naruto had chosen shirts with a wide cut around the neck, the result being a great view of Sasuke’s collarbones.

Maybe this was a mistake.

“There’s more,” he hurried to say, telling himself that he was _not_ going to jump Sasuke.

It was just a shirt! And Sasuke looked good in anything, so it really shouldn’t make him feel all feverish to see Sasuke wear clothes that _he_ picked out, in a color he’d mostly chosen because why not but that was _clearly_ too fitting.

Sasuke looked like he could snap your neck with a flick of his hand, which of course he _could_ , but he’d never really looked like it before in all his weird outfits. And the standard outfit wasn’t precisely flattering on anyone.

Swallowing down the half hysterical question of _hey, turn on your Sharingan?_ Naruto escaped once more into the box, wondering if he needed to start questioning his own sanity. Maybe this alternate world was just slowly making him lose it.

For some reason, he could hear Kurama groan. But since he didn’t say anything, he chalked it up to snoring or whatever.

“Mikoto insisted on getting you a haori, and then I got you a sweater.”

The haori was lovely, really, made from fine fabric and colored a dark blue that could be mistaken for black in bad lighting. When Sasuke put it on, the loose sleeves reached just below his elbows. The ends reached around mid-thigh, a large Uchiha fan covering the back.

He looked… so _Uchiha_. Like the clan leader he actually was, considering he was pretty much the only one left. Obito didn’t count, really.

It stole Naruto’s breath away, seeing him like that. Sure, he was barefooted, standing in a bedroom with a frown on his face as he ran his hands along fabric, but it _hurt_ to think that Sasuke was meant for so much more than what he’d been given in life.

Naruto wanted to give him that, wished with all his being that he could give back all he’d lost.

Closing the distance with slow steps, Naruto reached out to adjust the haori over Sasuke’s shoulders. He left his hands on his collarbones, running his eyes over pale skin brought out by the red and blue surrounding it.

“It suits you,” he murmured, daring to meet Sasuke’s eyes this close.

“It’s just clothes,” Sasuke frowned, but allowed the closeness, the eye contact, breaths becoming synchronized.

Underneath his right hand, Naruto could feel not only Sasuke’s steady heartbeat, but that second beat that kept them connected. It felt stronger like this, in the quiet filling the air between them. Everything else faded out of focus, until his body seemed to vibrate with Sasuke’s presence.

He drew a shaky breath, heart heavy in his chest and beat loud in his ears, moving closer, closer, chests connecting as his hands slid up around Sasuke’s neck. When their noses bumped he released the air again, falling into Sasuke, caught by strong arms around his waist.

Fire burned his veins, prickling hot, flames licking between their bodies. Did anything else in life really matter, if he could have Sasuke like this? If he could drown in his eyes, comb fingers through his hair like lovers did, drink in his heat like he was made of ice and desperate to melt.

“Naruto…”

He clenched his eyes shut, pulling Sasuke closer, cheek to cheek and heart to heart.

“You’re everything to me,” he whispered, feeling Sasuke’s arms tighten in response. “Please, just, _please_ promise you’ll be careful.”

Warmth washed over Naruto’s cheek, the evidence of Sasuke’s sigh. Then his mouth pressed against Naruto’s ear, lips as soft as his words.

“I promise.”

_For you, I’ll do anything._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: The super wonderful snow124 drew this beautiful piece of art inspired by the last scene, please go check it out on [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/45305087@N02/30724429062/) or [tumblr](http://snow124-art.tumblr.com/post/152865571765/haori-by-snow124-it-hurt-to-think-that)
> 
> Please go show her your love!!!
> 
> In the end, I settled for rather simple clothes for them. But I really wanted some color for Sasuke... One day I'll make him wear that baby blue shirt, just so Naruto can have some fun. Personally I really like Naruto's red sage robe, even if it looks bad with orange. If you're wondering what Sasuke was thinking when seeing Naruto wearing black and white, it was probably something along the lines of "shit, this really brings out his natural colors... I might go blind at this rate."  
> On a side note, wouldn't it be fun to have Naruto and Sasuke spar in white clothes and whoever has the cleanest ones at the end wins? It's something I'll imagine at least. Maybe it can rain while they do it, you know... 
> 
> Anyway, the mission is coming up, and now we know a little bit more on what to expect! I do think I should update Wasn't expecting that next, and I'll be kinda busy all of November, but look forward to it! 
> 
> By the way, I had to ask myself (and Nora) some pretty hard questions while writing this. Like, would they have VHS or DVD players? Do they really use cardboard boxes? Why haven't they invented more functional fabrics?? Such a strange mix of feudal and modern Japan, this manga... oh well. Artistic freedom is my friend:p


	35. Never letting go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *shows up four months late and not even with starbucks*
> 
> Hello everyone! I was starting to get worried messages asking if I was dead (I reblog stuff daily on tumblr, you know, easy to check) so I figured I had really procrastinated this chapter long enough. I'd apologize but well, Yuri on Ice!!! is just that good so it's hard to get back into Naruto haha... Not abandoning this story though! 
> 
> Kind of an emotional chapter, this one. Then again, that's nothing new haha. Hope you like it though!

He really shouldn’t be here. There were a lot of things he shouldn’t do, but awkwardly hovering at the edge of a training field was certainly at the top of the list.

In fact, he was supposed to head out for another training session with Itachi, preparing for the upcoming mission (though Itachi still didn’t like having to train him). And yet here he was, fingers digging into rough bark as he watched Sasuke wipe sweat off his brow, having completed yet another series of attacks. He needed to keep his fingers there, or he might feel them itch to wrap around Sasuke’s, searching for injuries. Somehow he always managed to injure himself without noticing, always pretending he wasn’t hurt.

It made him too easy to take advantage of. If Menma could hate himself more than he already did, well. Looking at Sasuke now, he might have to try. Jiraiya always used to say that he didn’t try enough, and maybe he was right. He would sympathize with peeking on someone beautiful though, and so Menma comforted himself with that as he continued to watch.

Sasuke looked tired, the dark bags underneath his eyes telling of more than simple exhaustion from practice. And yet he seemed determined, only allowing himself quick breaks before continuing. His training was excessive, really, way past the point of actually doing any good. If Menma could, if he had any _right_ , then he’d tell him to stop, take a shower, go sleep, anything but beat himself up over whatever was plaguing his mind.

He could take a guess, what it was about. He didn’t want to believe that Sasuke spared him any thought, but it was useless to pretend he wouldn’t. Sasuke was on his mind constantly, after all. Maddening was what it was, what _he_ was, with the setting sun glistening in his hair and across his skin.

A rush of goose bumps went up his arms as Sasuke twisted midair, eyes flashing dark towards him. Did he notice him? If he did, he made no move to let Menma know. Instead he landed in a crouch, stumbling as he tried to stand up again.

“ _Damn it_ ,” he could hear Sasuke hiss, even as he pushed himself up with both hands on his quivering knees.

While Sasuke took deep breaths, Menma couldn’t breathe at all. His stomach was twisting uncomfortably, shoulders aching from tension. Sasuke _never_ worked this hard, not in the time he’d known him. It wasn’t just that he was overworking himself, it was the _hopelessness_ written all over his face. Menma recognized it, remembered all too well the quiet voice he’d used only weeks prior.

_No matter how hard I try, I can’t reach that level. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s fine the way it is, really. I just wish other people would think that, too._

There were things Menma wished he’d never been told, things Sasuke shouldn’t have confided in him. He hated this, feeling completely useless. He knew what he’d done, knew _why_ , and yet here he stood like some pathetic cheater wanting his ex back.

He dug his fingers harder into the tree, feeling the wood start to break into pieces underneath them, scratching at his skin. So many reasons not to be here and only one reason he was.

“Are you going to stand there forever?”

Startled, Menma met Sasuke’s eyes for one breath-hitching moment.

“I…”

Sasuke looked away, still panting heavily, wiping harshly at his forehead with the back of his arm.

“I don’t want to see you. Leave.”

He should. He _would_ , but Sasuke’s voice quivered much like his knees earlier, and Menma swallowed down his self-loathing to do this one thing he’d set out to do.

“I didn’t come to apologize,” he started, swallowing against his dry throat and taking a few tentative steps closer, out of the slight cover of trees. “I just needed to…”

“Just needed to _what_?”

Eyes narrowed dangerously, Sasuke glared in the general direction of his feet rather than make eye contact again. His arms were crossed, moving up and down in a steady rhythm of quick breaths. He looked untouchable in that moment, bristling with tension unlike any time he’d seen him before – it only served to dig the hole in Menma’s chest just that little bit deeper.

“See you,” he finished, simply, hands limp by his sides when all he wanted-

“Well you can’t,” Sasuke snapped at him, still refusing to look at him again. “You can’t see me.”

“I know.”

“So leave.”

Neither moved. Menma stared at Sasuke’s nose, at the hair curling with sweat atop his forehead, his lips pursed in disapproval. If he thought Sasuke hated him it would be so much easier, not this nauseating swirl in his throat, no cold sweat creeping up his sides and neck. If Sasuke hated him, he wouldn’t need to do this, after all.

“It’ll be the last time,” he broke the silence with, and it was his turn to avert his gaze when Sasuke’s head whipped up. “From now on, you can forget about me completely.”

When Sasuke seemed about to object he held up a hand, watching from the corner of his eye how Sasuke’s fists clenched in anger.

“And if I can’t?” Sasuke gritted out through clenched teeth, clawing into Menma’s carefully built wall like it was made of soft earth. “If I refuse?”

He shrugged, using all his willpower to go through with the movement, shoulders unwilling and stiff.

“That’s it? A shrug?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Sasuke stared at him, gaze boring into Menma’s head without mercy. Well. It wasn’t as if he didn’t deserve worse.

“Have fun on your mission,” Sasuke eventually hissed, stalking past him and disappearing through the trees, leaving Menma behind in the sole company of this thoughts.

When he couldn’t feel Sasuke’s presence anymore, he heaved a sigh and sank down into a crouch, fingers carding shakily through his hair.

If only he-

If only.

xxx

Naruto was pacing inside his room. Sasuke had left an hour or so earlier, headed for a briefing on the mission, and he wondered what was taking him so long. It was already evening, only a short time left before Sasuke would have to leave at dawn. It wasn’t weird that he wanted to spend that time _with_ Sasuke, was it? He’d slept in this morning, wasting precious time already. To think the one day Sasuke lets him sleep uninterrupted, it’s the one Naruto wants to wake up early on!

“Stupid bastard,” he muttered to himself, rolling his neck to ease some of the tension there.

They’d bumped into Sakura earlier, asking her about Charasuke. Sasuke seemed a bit concerned that they hadn’t seen him, and it hadn’t helped that Sakura was kind of vague and only told them he wanted some time alone.

Strange.

It really was the least of his worries, however, and the anxious feeling that had gnawed at him the past few days seemed to only increase as time slowly went by. He didn’t want to worry, but he’d spent so many years worrying over Sasuke that it came as second nature by now. Maybe he should just go with them. Why couldn’t he? Well, besides the fact that Sasuke would never let him, there really wasn’t anything stopping him.

So yeah, not an option.

“Stupid, _stupid_ bastard.”

A knock on the door brought him out of his cursing, and soon enough Iruka cracked it open to peek at him.

“Sasuke’s still at the meeting?” he asked, and Naruto nodded miserably. “Well, then there’s no excuse for you to _not_ pick up all those books in the playroom.”

Naruto made a face, but dutifully followed Iruka. He’d almost forgotten about the reading list he’d received from Asuna’s teacher, the Jiraiya he’d hoped was the old perv but wasn’t. Asuna had surprised him by picking out a bunch of them at the library and dumping them on him, cheerfully announcing that he could read them while Sasuke was gone.

The opposite of a motivational speech, but at least she tried.

Sasuke had leafed through some of them before the meeting, looking all high and mighty until Naruto called his bluff. Neither of them had been very good with academics, and their Academy days felt like a lifetime ago. As embarrassing as it was, Naruto probably _would_ need a dictionary for some of the kanji in them, though he’d never let Sasuke know he was right. That is, if he did manage to try and read them.

It seemed slightly more appealing to wallow in self-pity for a few days.

 _Always so dramatic_ , Kurama huffed at him, and Naruto mimicked his words back at him in ridicule as he piled the books together.

“I think I have good reason to be,” he muttered, quickly going through the motions to create a clone to help him carry the books.

How the hell had Asuna managed to get them all to the orphanage by herself? They weren’t small books, either, some of them dusty and old with kanji in gold on their backs. History, political history, and what was the last thing she mentioned…

 _Legal systems of the world_ , Kurama helpfully reminded him.

“Hah, I guess you can be useful _sometimes_.”

_Oh, shut it._

What was a legal system anyway? Naruto wasn’t too eager to find out, because he had a feeling he wouldn’t understand and would need to go back to that weird teacher and ask.

_I thought you were going to learn how to make our world better? Giving up already?_

Naruto wasn’t listening. He was pretty sure that Sasuke was on his way back, and so he hurried to shove all the books into a corner inside his room before hurrying back down to the front door.

“What took you so long?” he called out once Sasuke reached the wooden gate leading into the garden.

Of course, the only reply he got was an eye-roll.

“You said it wouldn’t take long,” he complained, blocking the doorway so that Sasuke was forced to look at him.

“I said I _thought_ it wouldn’t take long. It’s been an hour at the most.”

“Yeah? Well it felt longer.”

Sasuke stared at him, clearly conveying without words just how annoying he thought Naruto was right now. All it took was a flat stare and slightly quirked eyebrow, and Naruto could feel himself bristling in defense.

“It really _did_ feel longer,” he added, but didn’t resist when Sasuke pushed him into the hallway with a hand on his chest.

“Sure,” Sasuke said, completely unsympathetic. “You could have read one of the books.”

“Didn’t feel like it.”

Sasuke paused on his way to their room, throwing another look at him over his shoulder.

“What?” Naruto crossed his arms, turning his nose up but still trying to see Sasuke’s face at the same time.

“Idiot,” Sasuke sighed, and continued walking.

Naruto had half a mind to just walk the other way and see if Sasuke would follow, but knowing him he wouldn’t. If there was one instance Sasuke was predictable, it was when it came to ignoring Naruto whenever he sulked.

Shuffling his feet in the doorway to his room, Naruto watched Sasuke search for his sleepwear in the bed, easily discarding his shirt once he found them crumpled underneath a pillow. It wouldn’t be so bad if Sasuke slept shirtless, he thought, tilting his head slightly with narrowed eyes as Sasuke stretched his arms up to put the t-shirt on. His skin always looked so smooth, soft to the touch despite the muscles rippling underneath.

_Weren’t you supposed to sulk?_

Biting his lip, Naruto didn’t bother with a reply. He could multitask. Right?

“Well?” Sasuke had turned around, hand on his hip and looking way too good even as he mocked Naruto. “Aren’t you going to get ready for bed?”

“No,” he shot back, not sure why he disagreed.

“Suit yourself,” Sasuke shrugged, and headed for the small bathroom.

He stood for another few seconds, then stalked over to the bed and shoved the covers around until he found the shirt and boxers he’d slept in. They were good for another night, right? On the other hand, maybe not.

Throwing them aside he grabbed some new clothes to sleep in, muttering angrily to himself as he changed.

“Are you going to be like that all night?” Sasuke hadn’t closed the door to the bathroom, and now he stuck his head through the doorway, toothbrush in hand. “I’ll go sleep with Charasuke in that case.”

With some effort, Naruto kept his lips pressed into a thin line rather than start an argument. He plopped down on the bed instead, bouncing a few times before pulling his legs to his chest, chin resting on his knees. From there he had a rather good view of Sasuke’s back as he returned to brushing his teeth. It also helped that his mouth fit into the space between his bare knees, keeping it shut for him.

A minute later Sasuke returned, looking at ease but fooling no one. Well, at least not fooling Naruto. There was tension at the corner of his mouth, in the small crease between his brows, but he didn’t spare Naruto as much as a look as he climbed into bed and settled on his side.

It took Naruto about a minute of indecisiveness before he sighed and thought he might as well brush his teeth and get it over with. Once he’d taken care of his business, he stood for a while before the (still) cracked mirror and contemplated his options. He could go back to Sasuke and pretend to be cheerful, maybe bicker a little back and forth and go to sleep. Or well, he wasn’t sure he actually could. It might actually be impossible, but he didn’t _want_ to be gloomy either. He just wanted to be with Sasuke before their inevitable separation…

There weren’t really that many options open to him. They already talked things through, and he doubted Sasuke would be very happy if Naruto kept nagging him about being careful. It didn’t feel right to do it, anyway, not when Sasuke went so far as to make a _promise_.

Leaning against the sink, he pressed his fingers into the ceramic until the knuckles whitened. If only he knew how to get this sense of _foreboding_ out of his head! It was like he couldn’t think of anything else, caught up in this loop of negative feelings and worry. Staring into his own reflection, he tried convincing himself that everything was going to be fine, that Sasuke would come back from the mission perfectly fine and they would find a solution to the whole different dimension thingy, and then they’d go home and-

 _Home_. How long had it been since they came here, anyway? It couldn’t be more than some weeks, but it felt like an eternity. It wasn’t so bad, being here. Sure, they’d gotten off to a bit of a rough start, and it’s not like it had been fun to see Sasuke suffer through whatever it was, and there were still a lot of question marks, but…

Okay, maybe a lot of things were pretty bad, but most people were nice, and Sasuke’s family was here. That kind of weighed up a lot of the bad things, really, even if Sasuke hadn’t seemed too happy about it at first. _And_ , most importantly, people thought Naruto and Sasuke were in a relationship and didn’t mind it, encouraged it even. Now that he thought about it, even through the squeezing feeling in his chest due to Sasuke’s mission, there was a part of him that felt elated. Like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, just by being able to admit to himself that Sasuke was more to him than a friend.

No one had ever suggested to Naruto back home that maybe, _maybe_ , what he felt for Sasuke was closer to romantic love than friendship.

Of course, they’d just been kids when Sasuke left, and can you really be in love with someone at thirteen and spend years desperately chasing after them?

It wasn’t romantic love in the sense that Naruto got butterflies in his stomach whenever he saw Sasuke, back then. It was more like… Like the fact that Sasuke was the first person to acknowledge him, to see Naruto and see him for _real_ , made him more important than Naruto’s own life. It was different from what Iruka had done for him, because Naruto and Iruka weren’t equals. Iruka was his teacher, and of course he loved Iruka, but it hadn’t been enough for some reason.

Sasuke just _did_ things to him, at that age and later, and earlier too. Sasuke had always been there, like they were two rocks constantly scraping against each other until they were so worn that they fit together perfectly.

That’s how it felt, really. Like they fit together, like the moment they connected there was simply no going back.

Maybe it wasn’t romantic love at the beginning, maybe that came much later. Maybe it was an inevitable development, and no matter what had happened, if Sasuke had stayed or left or they had both died, Naruto would have still fallen in love.

He couldn’t help but feel a little cheated, though. The whole time Sakura had been able to talk about her ‘love’ for Sasuke, and people just _accepted_ it. Like her having a crush on him was somehow a better explanation than Naruto’s whole world changing because of Sasuke. She wasn’t questioned like he was. _Why do you go so far for him? Just give up already!_ But Sakura? Maybe she wasn’t encouraged to go after Sasuke, but it’s not like people thought it was weird.

And, honestly, it wasn’t long ago that someone said something along the lines of _won’t it be nice once Sasuke’s off probation, so you can have some free time._ As if seeing Sasuke wasn’t the highlight of his day! As if Sasuke being moved to his own apartment wasn’t the worst idea ever!

Here, they could sleep in the same bed and no one questioned it. Here, Sasuke felt safe in accepting his feelings. Here, Naruto could imagine going on a _date_.

“Naruto.”

Sasuke’s voice carried through the bathroom door, followed by the door creaking open.

“Sasuke.”

“I could hear you thinking all the way over there.”

In the mirror, Sasuke’s reflection looked concerned and a little tense.

“Do you think,” Naruto started, then backtracked his thoughts. “It’s nothing.”

He pushed off the sink and turned to face Sasuke, waiting for him to move aside. When he didn’t, Naruto bit his lips and stared at the tiled walls instead, reluctant to talk since he would probably just end up saying the same things as last night.

 _Sasuke promised_ , he reminded himself. Not just to be careful, but also to return to Konoha with him. It would have to be enough. Whatever happened after that, well, Naruto would just have to believe it was going to work out.

“You complain that I take too long with my meeting, and then you shut yourself into the bathroom? I’m sure you thought of nothing.”

“I don’t want to argue,” Naruto bit back, frowning at the wall.

“Then save us the time and tell me what’s gotten you all upset now.”

Naruto blinked in surprise, turning his face back towards Sasuke. The other man was leaning against the doorway, posture stiff like he was making an effort to stand still.

“I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Hm.”

“It’s true.”

“You’re the one always going on about me sharing my feelings, maybe you should try it yourself.”

“Fine!” Exasperated, Naruto threw his hands out, the words leaving him in a rush. “You want to know what I was thinking? I was thinking that no one ever told me that being in love with you was an option until now! And that no one ever told Sakura that her crush on you was a dumb reason to risk her life, I mean she didn’t even know you! But you being my best friend and most important person wasn’t good enough, because apparently it’s more acceptable to be a girl with a crush at thirteen than to be a guy having an actual deep bond with the person!”

“I-“

“And like, I don’t know why it turned into the kind of love where I want to kiss you and stuff, but it did and I don’t want to lose this feeling. I don’t want to go back home if people will just tell me _again_ to give you up.”

He couldn’t meet Sasuke’s eyes as he told him this, staring at some point above his shoulder. He could feel his heart beat a painful rhythm against his ribs, heavy like lead. His fingers curled into fists, nails digging into his palms, wondering what Sasuke was going to say. It was probably not what he expected, and Naruto hadn’t exactly wanted to think about it in the first place.

“They told you to give up…?”

Sasuke asked his question slowly, like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask even as he did.

“Well, yeah. Obviously. You knew that.”

“I thought they told Sakura too. I thought _you_ thought her crush on me was valid.”

“I don’t know.” Naruto sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub. “Maybe they didn’t take her as seriously, whatever. And I figured she felt something like how I felt, I guess. But it’s like, I spent _years_ dedicating my life to bringing you back to the village and people still act as if I wouldn’t want to keep doing things for you? As if now that you’re back, I should just move on with my life and not really care about you more than I care about my other friends.”

“They probably just don’t like that the future hokage is so interested in a former S-ranked criminal like me.”

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto swallowed down the sour taste in his throat at Sasuke’s words.

“You’re not a former criminal, Sasuke.”

“I was to them.”

Locking eyes, Naruto knew that it was true. Just like the village had once seen Naruto as a monster, they saw Sasuke as someone who betrayed the village. It was so frustrating that _reasons_ somehow didn’t matter to the general public, and even to some of the people who should know better.

“Yeah, well, I’m not going to _stop_.”

“And you think they won’t be happy with that.”

Naruto let out a snort, because surely Sasuke didn’t think they _would_.

“You’re right,” Sasuke said, straightening up suddenly. “This isn’t something we should talk about right now.”

“You kind of made me talk about it.”

“I said you were right, didn’t I?”

Naruto smiled at that, even if it felt weaker than it usually would have been.

“You say a lot of things, it’s just strange to agree.”

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke closed the distance between them. He stopped close enough that Naruto had to strain in order to look up at him, and to his great surprise Sasuke put a hand behind his neck to support it.

“You mean, strange that you were right for once,” Sasuke teased, and Naruto felt infinite times better, even as Sasuke’s expression turned more serious again. “You’ll think of something.”

“I will?”

“You always do. You’ll figure out what you want to do and then you’ll do it, even if people don’t like it.”

Feeling his cheeks heat up at the unusual praise, Naruto wet his lips and carefully placed his hands by Sasuke’s hips.

“I want you.”

Sasuke seemed torn for a moment, eyes flickering over Naruto’s face, thumb brushing absentmindedly underneath his ear.

“It’s not as simple as that.”

“It is right now.”

He could feel the heat build between them, the slight tremor in the air as Sasuke stared deep into his eyes. Tightening his grip on Sasuke’s hips, feeling his warmth through the thin shorts, Naruto found it hard to breathe. He wanted Sasuke always, and maybe it hadn’t always been in the same _way_ , but that didn’t make it less true.

“You want me,” Sasuke repeated, as if tasting the words on his tongue, considering them.

His thumb still stroked the skin under Naruto’s ear, moving in small circles that sent sparks of pleasure down Naruto’s spine.

“Um,” was all Naruto could reply, throat all dried up, nose filled with Sasuke’s scent, Sasuke’s warmth under his hands…

He cleared his throat, but Sasuke seemed lost in thought and Naruto didn’t dare to move. Sasuke’s hand moved from his neck, fingertips trailing along his jawline and over his cheek, hesitating by his temple. The touch was soft, gentle even, and Naruto sucked in a breath when Sasuke sat down next to him. When Sasuke’s hand fell from his face, Naruto caught it and laced their fingers together.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked, his voice sounding much too loud in the quiet of the bathroom.

“I’m not sure,” Sasuke said, brows pulling together in a frown as he shifted uncomfortably. “But-“

He paused, and Naruto nervously squeezed his hand.

“But what?”

“You mentioned, before, that you wanted to put a teleportation mark on me…”

Eyes widening, Naruto felt his chin drop at the words.

“Are you saying that-?”

Sasuke’s frown deepened, but he didn’t look away.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” he muttered, and Naruto had to bite his cheek so he wouldn’t disagree out loud.

Not a big deal? It was _huge!_

Almost trembling, Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat and shifted a little closer, catching Sasuke’s other hand as well, mindful of the half-moon mark across its palm.

“Are you sure?” he asked, holding back a smile when Sasuke glared at him.

“Just don’t put it someplace stupid.”

 _Please put it on his ass_ , Kurama suggested, and Naruto almost choked.

“You don’t want to choose the spot?” he asked, sure he was a little wild around the eyes as he tried very hard to not imagine touching Sasuke’s ass.

Sasuke only shrugged, and Naruto took a few deep breaths to collect himself again, making a mental note of having a serious talk with Kurama about _keeping his goddamn mouth shut_.

“I can remove it after the mission, if you want,” he added, hoping his voice didn’t sound as shaky as he felt.

“Just pick somewhere,” Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes impatiently.

It wasn’t a yes, and Naruto did a small cheer on the inside. It wasn’t that he thought Sasuke needed supervision, he just hated the thought of not being able to get to Sasuke instantly if he needed it. He really hadn’t expected Sasuke to agree, or even remember.

Running his eyes over Sasuke’s upper body, he tried to decide on a good placement for it. Chest? Arm? Shoulder maybe? His gaze landed on the junction between Sasuke’s left shoulder and neck, lingering there as he remembered a certain seal that once marred the pale skin.

“I picked a spot,” he breathed, releasing Sasuke’s hands. “Turn around?”

Sasuke did so silently, and Naruto used his fingertips to slowly push the t-shirt up Sasuke’s back, hoping he couldn’t feel the slight tremor in them.

“Is it okay?” he asked, caressing his shoulder blades lightly before pushing the shirt high enough.

“Is where okay?” Sasuke said drily, twisting his neck to meet Naruto’s eyes.

“Here.” Naruto pressed into the spot, noticing the way Sasuke’s eyes widened in recognition.

 “You-“ Sasuke caught himself, quickly turning his head back. “It’s fine. I don’t care.”

Something in Sasuke’s tone told Naruto he _did_ care, but hopefully it really was fine.

“Can you hold the shirt?”

Sasuke grabbed onto the fabric, tilting his head to the side to give him enough room. Naruto had to swallow down a spike of arousal at the sight, resisting the urge to smooth his hands up and down Sasuke’s back and press his lips to the soft skin displayed so invitingly to him.

 “Alright,” he mumbled, placing his palm where he thought Orochimaru’s curse seal had been.

The rush of chakra needed was faint, tickling his palm and leaving behind a permanent seal in black ink. When Naruto had started learning the technique he hadn’t known what to pick for his seal, going through a large amount of suggestions (all rejected by Sasuke) until he’d finally come up with something that felt fitting enough. It had been Kurama’s suggestion, really, and he could hear the fox snicker as he let his hand slide down to show the two kanji for “nine” and “wind” scrawled on Sasuke’s skin.

“Done?”

Naruto scooted back, giving Sasuke room to pull the shirt down again.

“Do you want to try if it works?” Sasuke had stood up, giving him an expectant look.

“Oh, well, sure.”

Nodding, Sasuke left the bathroom and walked over to stand by the window, as far from Naruto as possible but still inside the bedroom. Drawing in a breath, Naruto stood as well and quickly performed the technique, finding himself beside Sasuke a moment later.

“It worked.”

“Obviously,” Sasuke said, touching the mark underneath the shirt. “It’s not going to fade, I suppose?”

Naruto shook his head, wondering if Sasuke had changed his mind.

“Let’s sleep, then,” he continued with a shrug, climbing into bed like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Hesitating only a moment, Naruto quickly turned the lights off and followed him. Once in bed he didn’t have time to hesitate over what to do – touch Sasuke or not – because he’d barely slipped underneath the covers before Sasuke hovered above him.

“Sasuke, what-“

“No more talking.”

Sasuke’s fingers found his lips, pressing down on them before sliding along his jaw to cup his face. Heart pounding in his chest, Naruto grabbed the small of Sasuke’s back to pull him closer, the length of his body brushing up against him.

“I can be quiet,” Naruto breathed into Sasuke’s mouth, feeling as if his entire body burned white-hot with want.

Sasuke didn’t waste his time with a reply, instead dipping his head the last few millimeters until their mouths met properly, soft and warm as Naruto tightened his hold. It was slow at first, gradually increasing pressure, Naruto already failing to stay silent as Sasuke’s hands combed through his hair.   

“I don’t think that counts as quiet,” Sasuke murmured, and it would have been more effective as an insult if Sasuke’s lips hadn’t touched his with every formed syllable, slightly wet from the slide of their tongues.

 “You’re the one who’s talking,” he hissed back, thankful that the darkness hid his red cheeks.

It did not, however, hide Sasuke rolling his eyes. Even if he couldn’t see it, Naruto could _feel_ just how little Sasuke cared about the technicalities. Still, he couldn’t find it in him to be irritated, not when Sasuke’s fingers were doing such wonderful things to him, twirling his hair and pulling lightly. Not to mention how hard it was to not think about every part of their bodies that were connected, and how if he moved just a tiny bit he could push his hands underneath Sasuke’s shirt and explore all that skin properly.

Once the idea formed in his mind he only held out a few seconds, biting his lower lip before pulling fabric aside. Sasuke felt hot underneath his fingertips, staying still as Naruto traced along his spine, up and down again. Bold when Sasuke didn’t object, Naruto painted patterns across his back; circles and spirals and little taps like raindrops. He could feel Sasuke relax, slowly but surely softening until he was pliant against Naruto’s body, one arm draped over his chest, face tucked into the crook of Naruto’s neck.

Surely Sasuke could feel how his heart hammered against his ribcage, how his hands trembled as they moved. The sound of his heartbeat was so loud in his ears that it almost drowned out the smaller beat from that spot in his chest where he and Sasuke were connected, and he flattened his palms to stroke up Sasuke’s back, pressing them into his warmth and thinking that maybe he could sense it through touch instead. He kept his hands there, just underneath Sasuke’s shoulder blades, feeling him let out a slow breath as his ribcage moved. He concentrated on the movement, trying to calm his struggling heart by breathing in sync with Sasuke.

There was something so incredibly soothing to sharing body heat like this, simply laying so close to each other, listening to each other’s hearts and breaths. Sasuke shifted, pulling one leg almost on top of Naruto’s and adjusting the arm not slung over Naruto’s chest, sighing softly into his neck once he was more comfortable. Naruto couldn’t help but hold his breath, a painful squeeze inside his chest forming into a thick lump in his throat because Sasuke was _holding on_ to him like he didn’t want to be separated, either. Somehow that was worse than Naruto’s own reluctance to be apart, and he folded his arms around Sasuke’s back to hug him tight. Letting out a shaky breath he turned his face until both his nose and mouth pressed against the top of Sasuke’s head, inhaling his scent like he might forget it over the course of a few days.

For an entire year he’d been able to keep Sasuke close, living the dream (sort of) of his thirteen year old self. They trained together, ate together, and more often than not slept in the same room even after Sasuke had moved into his own apartment. He wanted to keep doing that forever. There was just no way he could imagine a future where Sasuke wasn’t by his side, because when Sasuke was there he felt like he mattered. Like _life_ mattered. And maybe other people were right, that he cared too much about Sasuke, that he always went too far when it came to Sasuke, but it’s not like he could help it. To Naruto, Sasuke was too much a part of his life, a part of his reasons for working harder, for getting up every time he fell, for facing the day with a bright smile that felt less and less forced the longer Sasuke stayed with him.

 _I need him, I want him, I’m never letting go_.

Letting the thought fill him like a mantra, Naruto pressed his lips to Sasuke’s hair, swallowing against the rawness in his throat.

Closing his eyes, he wished morning would never come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a little more Menma POV, and it seems Naruto and Sasuke are getting slightly better at communicating. It's funny because when I opened up the document a couple of days ago to write the chapter, most of the first scene was already written but I had completely forgotten about it. I probably have a chapter plan somewhere but winging it works too. Right? 
> 
> Anyway, I feel kind of bad for forcing them apart like this. Let's hope nothing bad happens. :)
> 
> Btw - if you haven't, go read my Yuri on Ice!!! fics [I see the universe in your eyes](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9137038) and [Lessons in Love](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9250658/chapters/20972102) bc they're much happier than this story lol. And I mean, it feels good to actually write fics for a quality anime for once, you know? *finger guns*


	36. The calm before the storm part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not very good at juggling a busy life with writing several stories, but I finally had a whole day off and wrote most of this chapter! I should let you know that it's a bit angsty, but hopefully not too bad? Hopefully everything makes sense haha... Plotting is hard (-д-。)
> 
> Anyway, it's my birthday on Wednesday but I probs won't update anything else until then, so happy birthday to me in advance lol, I'm getting old 、(￣▽￣)V It's true bc I'm having a life crisis at least once every week hah. Almost as old as Viktor yay! I never thought I would relate so much to a Russian man but here we are. 
> 
> But yeah, I hope you like the chapter! Lots of plot set-ups ahead...

For some reason, Naruto wasn’t waking up. Biting into his cheek, Sasuke stared down at him, rolling back on his heels. He’d changed, double-checked his backpack, and poked at Naruto approximately once every two minutes. It was strange, but Naruto looked peaceful, his breathing even and his skin at normal temperature.

Maybe he was just tired? Honestly, Sasuke was more worried about Naruto’s reaction to waking up and realizing Sasuke hadn’t said goodbye than about something being wrong.

Undecided, he pinched Naruto’s cheek, pulling at it but getting absolutely no reaction out of him.

 _Really_ strange.

Heaving a sigh, Sasuke resigned himself to writing a note for Iruka to check on him later, turning towards the door to leave.

He made it two steps before glancing back, analyzing the sleeping man. It wasn’t a clone. The extra little beat they shared was calm and steady. Nothing seemed amiss.

Backtracking his steps while telling himself that he was, in fact, not doing what it looked like he was doing, Sasuke ran his fingertips along Naruto’s hairline. He pushed a few strands aside, leaning down until he was close enough to feel soft breaths against his face.

“Try not to be stupid while I’m gone,” he muttered, lips twitching at the irony of it.

Naruto _always_ did stupid things, but it wasn’t necessarily bad that he did. Though it was a miracle he’d survived without Sasuke for as long as he did.

Now that he thought of it, it was kind of a miracle that Naruto was alive at all. Both of them, actually. Sure, life as a ninja was dangerous, but most ninja died by the hands of people who didn’t really care who you were. You were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and too weak to protect yourself.

The two of them, on the other hand, had been _targeted_ , had suffered, had actively been put and had put themselves in situations that all things considered should have ended up with them dead.

It made the past year with Naruto all the more precious for being so calm. He could understand that Naruto was reluctant to let him go on this mission, because who knows what sort of trouble would arise from it? Sasuke wasn’t eager to wake up the enemy either, but he’d always hated waiting.

Besides, it could be just a regular mission. Maybe.

Holding back a sigh, Sasuke figured he’d been crouched in front of Naruto long enough. Slowly withdrawing his hand from Naruto’s face he stood up, walking backwards until he reached the door.

There was something heavy in his throat, but it was different from what he’d felt in the past. Leaving Naruto was something he was used to associate with ripping out half his heart, letting it bleed until his chest was numb enough that he could keep walking with his back turned.

This was more like a slow ache, breaths a little ragged, heart a little shaky; a reluctance that spoke more of missing what he _had_ than denying what he _could_ have.

Maybe it was better that Naruto was asleep. Sasuke couldn’t tell what expression was on his face as he turned and left the house, dropping by the kitchen for that note first. It felt foreign, an unfamiliar arrangement of muscles that he couldn’t remove even when he scrubbed his face with both hands.

Letting out the sigh that had been building up once he’d left the house behind, Sasuke took a moment to tilt his head back and stare up at the sky, still dark with night even as the first sliver of dawn peeked from behind the horizon. It struck him then, the thought that this was the first time he was heading out for a mission with something pulling at him to _stay_.

There had always been something pushing him away from the village, ever since his family died, ever since Itachi had left. Like the anchor connecting him to Konoha had been ripped from under his feet, and hurled into the unknown. He’d been chasing it, turning desperate to destroy the cause for his pain when nothing he did could bring that feeling back, the feeling like he _belonged_.

And yet, now, Naruto was…

He could picture it clearly in his mind, Naruto throwing a new rope around his waist and digging his heels in, refusing to allow Sasuke a complete break. Not like an anchor, not like his family had been to him, but maybe like a weed that refused to be pulled out and thrown away because it kept growing back each time he tried.

Yes, Naruto had rooted himself in Sasuke’s heart, taking over piece by piece, unrelenting and unapologetic.

And Naruto was waiting for him to return.

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke prodded at the teleportation mark through his uniform. The fact that it was there, existed at all, was proof enough that Naruto had succeeded. Though, Sasuke didn’t mind, did he? Instead of fighting the weed with a rake and shovel, he’d begun to water it, cut down the tall grass hiding it from view to let it bathe in the sun.

He shivered, feeling that soft ache inside his chest again. When had Naruto taken over so completely? He didn’t want to admit how easy it felt to give in, how Naruto’s mouth breathed life into the plant, how his touch coaxed it to grow, how his smile was like the sun in and of itself filling Sasuke up until he thought he might burst.

He didn’t want to go.

The thought startled him, made him pause a moment longer. What were you supposed to do when you’d found something better than the past? Sasuke didn’t know. He only knew that Naruto held his heart in his palm, and the idea wasn’t as terrifying as it should be.

Which, in itself, was more terrifying than anything else.

xxx

_It was quiet. The kind of quiet that pressed down on your shoulders like a heavy weight, sucking the words out of your throat before they even thought to form._

_It was dark, too. No matter how many times he opened and closed his eyes it stayed dark, but the ground felt smooth underneath his feet as he walked._

_If he stretched his hand out in front of his eyes, he couldn’t see it. Not even the shape or movement, and there was no flutter of wind on his face if he fanned himself._

_He supposed it should be worrying, but Naruto felt numb as his feet carried him forwards. For all he knew he could be wandering in circles, but his feet were steady and his pace certain. Somehow he knew that he was walking somewhere, closing in on a destination with no hurry or need to know how much time was left until he reached it._

_Something in the back of his mind nudged at him, trying to catch his attention, but there was a fog inside his head that kept it from properly reaching him. A whisper that told him come here, this way, stay below the surface._

_So he walked, the air a smooth caress over his bare legs, twisting and twining around them._

_It had been dark for so long that when he saw light in the distance he almost felt like he’d forgotten what light was. He kept his pace slow, the light flickering softly as he neared it. When he was close enough to recognize the flutter as the movement of flames he could feel anticipation build up inside him. This was his destination, and whatever waited for him was important._

_He sent a stray thought to Sasuke, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared, wisped away like smoke._

_Still, it made him frown. There was something he’d forgotten, wasn’t there? Again, the whisper called out to him, smooth as silk in his ears, brushing along his cheeks and lips. Come here, stay, follow the light._

_He found he couldn’t resist it, the air pressing down heavier on his shoulders and neck until he gave in with a shudder. The voice was right, he needed to know what the light was. He needed to know what was so important. That small nagging thing was unnecessary, and he dismissed it._

_Whatever it was waiting for him seemed pleased with that, some of the pressure letting up. So numb and comfortable, putting one foot in front of the other, until he stepped into the circle of flickering light and found an old woman waiting for him._

_At once the fog in his head cleared, but when he turned around there was nothing there, only unyielding darkness that wouldn’t let him through._

_“Please, sit,” the woman said, her voice the same as that sweet whisper from before._

_“I have to go to Sasuke,” he disagreed, heart hammering inside his chest even as the pressure of silence tried to numb his mind again._

_“You will see him again,” she told him, eyes milky white and hair even paler, matching the flames._

_There was something about her that Naruto recognized, despite her wrinkled age and non-descript robe._

_“I’d like to see him now.”_

_She smiled, motioning with a frail hand for him to sit, and he found himself following the suggestion whether he liked it or not._

_The flames lessened in size, allowing him to meet her gaze over them. He couldn’t feel any warmth emanating from them, though they weren’t cold either._

_“Patience, my child. Something both of you seem in need of.”_

_“Who are you?” he asked, afraid to avert his eyes but uncomfortable when meeting hers._

_As if sensing this she closed her eyes, tilting her head to the side._

_“You should use your questions more wisely,” she chided him, holding out her hand, palm upwards. “I am many things. But you are not here to meet me, you are here for me to meet you.”_

_“What?”_

_Her hand dropped, one eye peeking open to stare at him._

_“What is most important to you?”_

_The answer fell from his lips before he could think it through._

_“Sasuke.”_

_“And what is most important to Sasuke?”_

_He bit his lower lip, hesitating._

_“I’m not sure,” he said eventually, glancing down at the eerie flames instead. “I wish it was me.”_

_“Do you not think it could be you?”_

_Again, he worried his lip between his teeth, swallowing thickly._

_“Well, his family-“_

_“Is in the past. As is yours.”_

_Naruto blinked at her, startled. Of course they were in the past, but that didn’t mean Sasuke didn’t think of them as more important than anything._

_“If Sasuke returns to your world with you, he will die.”_

_He choked, clutching at his chest, wide-eyed in disbelief._

_“What?” he wheezed, still half numb to emotions. “That’s…”_

_“If he returns with you, he will die,” she repeated simply, and the flames flickered as if caught in a breeze._

_“I won’t let that happen,” he gritted out, fingers twisting in the fabric of his shirt._

_“It will happen.”_

_She opened both her eyes, and then a third one in the middle of her forehead, bright red and dotted with black tomoe. Caught in her gaze, Naruto desperately tried to breathe, the pressure returning, overwhelming._

_“Understand, child, that the universe does not compromise. Your souls are entwined, your fates the same.”_

_“I don’t believe in fate.” Naruto stood up, pushing against the pressure, staring down at her. “I make my own path. I always have.”_

_She stood up as well, the flames rising with her until they reached her chin._

_“You are brave,” she said, holding her palms out to the sides, “but I know what you are up against. You do not. And I am telling you that it will kill him.”_

_Her right hand rose, her left lowering slightly._

_“Yin and yang, shadow and light, moon and sun. When imbalanced, conflict arise. When one disappears, both are lost.”_

_She brought her palms together, the flames gone for a moment as if blown out by a strong wind, then fluttering to life at the ground again, slowly returning until Naruto could discern her face again._

_“If Sasuke is more important than the world, let him stay here.”_

_Naruto couldn’t speak, watching the dancing flames until he saw they were different from before. These flames were warm, colored yellow and orange, bright and crackling. They felt like chakra, and when he reached a hand out to touch them, he knew who had made them._

_“I don’t understand,” he forced out, the words clumsy on his tongue, flames licking up his hand and arm._

_“You will,” she said, and when he looked at her, he found her eyes closed, face serene again. “Sasuke left these flames for you. Will you keep it burning?”_

_He eyed her warily, still not understanding, but she motioned to the ground where he could make out the shape of a stick from which the flames sprung up._

_“The stick?” he asked, marveling at the flames twisting around his arm like snakes._

_“Nothing burns forever,” she told him, “but that does not mean the time between now and the end is insignificant. Not to those who experience it.”_

_“So,” he started, licking his lips and slowly bending to pick up the stick, surprised at how cool it felt against his skin. “The world is ending?”_

_At this she smiled, a thin, dangerous thing that cut through the mist in Naruto’s head and filled it with bright light._

_“Not yet, I hope.”_

xxx

Menma was, to say the least, not happy about the third Uchiha on the team. It was bad enough to go on a mission with Sasuke’s father, now he also had to suffer through the company of the _other_ Sasuke.

Once introductions were over the atmosphere turned stiff, Menma dragging his feet as he followed the others out of the village. Was it karma? He didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to force his eyes away from the soft hairs at the nape of Sasuke’s neck again and again.

It was all too easy to recall how it felt, to run his fingers through those dark strands, to press his lips to the corner of a lazy morning smile.

When Sasuke glanced back at him, his thoughts quickly snapped away from the memory. This Sasuke had different eyes, a different posture, was different in so many ways that he might as well be a different person altogether. Where his Sasuke – though not _his_ , but how else would he separate them– had a soothing presence, a cheerful and cheeky smile that was as endearing as it was annoying at times, _this_ Sasuke felt untouchable both physically and mentally.

And there was that itch, too, that feeling creeping up his spine he’d felt that first time at the mock tournament. This Sasuke felt wrong, felt like a threat, and while logically he knew it should be the opposite, there was no getting around the stomach-churning feeling whenever he laid eyes on him.

On another note, a note Menma really didn’t want to think about if it weren’t for the fact that it defined his current life, Sasuke’s presence was also a blessing. He knew that he was walking towards something inevitable, the reason for his sort-of goodbye to _his_ Sasuke as well as the lingering hugs he’d given his parents last night. Sasuke was strong, possibly stronger than Menma, as small of a comfort as it was.

He wasn’t sure when he’d ever see Konoha again, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to look back before they entered the forest and lost sight of the wall surrounding the village. Instead he kept his gaze trained on the dirt path underneath his feet, with the occasional glance up at Sasuke.

Fugaku and Naori were talking quietly with each other, now and then coaxing a reply out of the otherwise silent Sasuke. They didn’t seem bothered by him trailing behind, and for that he was thankful. He wasn’t sure if Fugaku knew anything about his relationship with Sasuke, but he had no illusions that the chief of police would enjoy his company. And Sasuke? Well, considering the humiliating loss he’d suffered against the other, Menma wasn’t precisely going to strike up conversation.

“I think that’s enough warming up,” Fugaku announced, loud enough for Menma to hear. “We’ll be heading down to the Land of Tea, which shouldn’t take us more than two or so days of running. Let me know if you need any breaks before we stop for lunch.”

Thinning his lips, Menma gave a curt nod and gathered enough chakra under his soles, following the others up onto the massive tree branches overhead. Running was good. It allowed him to push down the thoughts swirling in his head, and to ignore the ache in his chest in favor of straining muscles.

If only it didn’t feel like he was running towards his end.

xxx

Waking up was disorienting, and Naruto spent a few moments trying to make sense of the knocking on the door. One second he’d been talking to Kaguya, and the next he was sitting up in bed, bright sunlight flooding in from the window.

“Naruto?”

Iruka peeked in through the doorway, concern etched on his face.

“Yeah?” He pushed the covers off, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What is it?”

“Sasuke left me a note to check on you,” Iruka said, and he might as well have slapped Naruto across the face.

“Oh,” he let out in a small breath, the world stopping for a second as he remembered that Sasuke was leaving for the mission this morning. _Had_ left already, judging by Iruka’s words. “Why didn’t he wake me up…”

“The note said you were impossible to wake,” Iruka told him, pushing the door open the last bit to enter. “How are you feeling?”

Naruto stared at Iruka, stared at the door behind him, stared at the corner where Sasuke’s backpack had stood last night.

“I don’t know,” he replied, staring down at his hands instead, fingers twitching. “What time is it?”

“Around ten. The Kazekage should be arriving soon, if you feel up to it.”

He swallowed, remembering Iruka mentioning yesterday that he would take the kids to watch the welcome procession, but it mingled with the memory of _white eyes_ and _darkness_ and _Sasuke’s flames_.

Rubbing his face again he nodded a few times, trying to shake off the weird pressure on his shoulders.

“Let me take a shower and I’ll be right there,” he said, pushing his hair back from his face once Iruka left and drawing in a deep breath.

So Sasuke hadn’t been able to wake him up, which wasn’t too weird considering he’d been talking to, well, it must have been Kaguya. This world’s Kaguya, to be precise, and he wondered if Sasuke would want him to teleport right over and let him know. He couldn’t be too far away yet, but something held him back.

 What was he going to say, anyway? _Yeah, sorry Sasuke, you’re stuck here indefinitely._ Something caught in his throat, something heavy and painful at the thought of Sasuke not coming back with him. He gripped the front of his t-shirt, twisting the fabric, curling in on himself. He pulled his legs up to his chest, forehead dropping to rest on top of his knees. It would be okay, right? They would fix whatever was going on, and then there wouldn’t be a problem. They didn’t even know _how_ to get back, so it was silly to even think about what would happen when they did.

And yet, the thought of having to go back alone…

_I’ll just not go back._

He bit the inside of his cheek, forcing himself to inhale slowly through his nose, out through his mouth. It was fine. Sasuke was fine. He would find a solution, just like Sasuke said. Sasuke _believed_ in him, and Naruto would carve a path by force if he had to. They’d been through worse before. And besides, Sasuke would be safe here, with his family, if it took him a while to figure things out.

Whether he went back or not, he couldn’t help the prickling feeling taking root in his body at the thought of leaving Sasuke behind, throat burning with pain.

 _We’ll work something out_ , Kurama murmured, but Naruto could tell even the fox wasn’t so sure about things anymore.

He’d felt so sure of himself when he talked to Kaguya, but now he couldn’t find the same strength. Sasuke had left this morning and Naruto hadn’t been able to hug him goodbye.

Pressing his palm over the spot where he could feel their beat connecting them he spent a few minutes simply listening to it, convincing himself that there was nothing to worry about.

It almost worked.

Eventually he gave up, dragging himself into the shower, still feeling on edge. Not that feeling on edge and being upset over something related to Sasuke was new, exactly, but that didn’t make it any better. All he wanted was some peace and quiet, and even though the past year had been peaceful he hadn’t been able to really relax. There was always something going on, always something to learn, always someone to argue with. In a sense, fighting a war was much easier than organizing peace.

He wasn’t sure how suited he was for it, honestly. Yes, he wanted to be Hokage, and yes, he wanted to turn things around and make the world a better place, but it was also so… _tiring_.

Staying here had been a relief from that pressure, and maybe that’s why things had developed with Sasuke, because he actually had time to think about it. Maybe it had been good for Sasuke, too. He hoped so at least.

Knowing he shouldn’t keep Iruka waiting he tried to be quick, despite the urge to stand underneath the showerhead until the hot water could flush away every single problem in his life. Maybe one day he could shower together with Sasuke… Focusing on pleasant thoughts instead, Naruto almost didn’t notice the small note left on top of the box with their new clothes.

Breath catching in his throat he snatched it up, unable to help the grin spreading across his face as he read Sasuke’s neat writing.

_That dream better be important and not some crap about ramen. I’ll see you soon. And don’t even think about using the teleportation mark for some stupid reason, usuratonkachi._

He carefully folded the note and got dressed, only hesitating a moment before snagging Sasuke’s baby blue shirt rather than picking one of his own.

If he kept the note in his pocket, well, no one needed to know.

xxx

Despite how hollow he felt, and despite how he was well on his way to a thrumming headache thanks to the crowd and general noise level, Sasuke felt better standing in line with Sakura. She was good at distracting him, good at pulling him out of his head whenever he got stuck thinking about _him_ again.

There was excitement in the air, people all dressed up and street vendors selling refreshments. It was rare for other kage to do official visits outside of chuunin exams, but it was also rare to choose a new kage, and therefore the visit was certainly not unexpected. All the ninja clans were gathered nearby the Hokage tower, but Sasuke stood at the edge of his own clan together with Sakura. Despite the fact that her father had been a hero after the short time he’d been Hokage she kept a low profile, something he was thankful for. He could spy Itachi and Obito standing over by the entrance to the tower, discussing whatever it was Hokage candidates discussed together with Anko.

Honestly, he was glad for the distraction even if he wasn’t in the mood for being in public. As long as he could lay low and no one found the need to introduce him to the Kazekage he’d be fine. Hopefully his mother and Itachi were enough to represent the clan. There was supposed to be a dinner later that night with all the important people, something Itachi had complained about on the way.

“How much longer do you think?” Sakura asked, standing on her tiptoes to try and see over the heads in the crowd. “I heard Gaara grew up really hot!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, because who cared?

“You know, Sasuke said that in their world, Gaara is actually the Kazekage.”

Sakura gaped at him, hands coming up in front of her mouth.

“Wow! That’s incredible! Hot _and_ important.”

“You’re gay anyway,” he pointed out, not sure why he disliked her awe.

“I have to think about my friends,” she scoffed, crossing her arms. “Ino has been single long enough.”

“And you think _Ino_ would be a good match for Gaara? Have you even met him?”

“The question, my dear Sasuke, is if the guy is good enough for _her_. Besides, he might be gay. We could take him out partying!”

“Or we can ignore him and do something better with our time.”

She gave him a pitying look he didn’t appreciate, squeezing his hand.

“Come on, you need to do something fun to take your mind off things. What could be better than a party? We can have it at my place if you don’t want to go out.”

Heaving a sigh, he scowled as someone bumped into him. There were excited whispers in the crowd now, and he figured the group from Suna was getting closer.

“I’d rather not be social,” he muttered, wishing the whole thing was over soon if Sakura was going to be like that.

Her reply was interrupted by loud protesting, an all too familiar voice carrying over the empty street behind them.

“-like I said, I’m here with Iruka, so there’s really no point in-“

“The Uchiha clan has their spot right up here, now move along, I have better things to do.”

“I’m not an Uchiha!” Naruto protested, flailing his arms, but the guard kept making shooing motions at him.

It would have been funny if his face didn’t remind him of Menma.

“There they are, see? Look, I get it, I’m not from around here either, but us cousins from the countryside need to stick to the rules, you get me? The Kazekage will be here any second so get in line!”

“Oh my god,” Sakura breathed next to him, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. “Why the hell would that guy think he’s Uchiha?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Sasuke gritted out, resolutely turning his back again to face the main street.

“Oi, Naruto!” she called, waving her arm when Sasuke glanced back at her. “Over here!”

The guard gave Naruto a look that clearly said I-told-you-so, despite the fact that Sakura was certainly not Uchiha either. It seemed as if Naruto gave up once he caught sight of them, jogging over with a scowl on his face.

“What the hell, that guy was such an asshole!”

“I’m more surprised he mistook you for an Uchiha? You look the exact opposite, after all.”

Sakura snickered, but to both their surprise Naruto flushed red and squirmed a little.

“I, uh, kind of accidentally borrowed Sasuke’s shirt? And it has the clan symbol?”

Sasuke stared at him, then down at the pale blue (very tight but Sasuke was not thinking about that) shirt he wore. It didn’t precisely look like something the other Sasuke would wear, but what did he know?

“Whatever, you can find Iruka later,” he dismissed him with.

“Hey, Naruto! Do you know the Gaara of your own world?” Sakura looked eager, and Sasuke had to wonder just how badly she wanted to play matchmaker. “Is he nice?”

“Don’t answer, she’s trying to set people up with him.”

“And what’s so bad about that?”

They glared at each other, Naruto chuckling awkwardly.

“Well, he’s a good friend of mine. But he wasn’t very friendly in the beginning, I guess, so I wonder what he’s like here…”

“Well, I hope we get to find out!” Sakura went back to trying to look over the small crowd, most likely cursing the average height of random Uchiha clan members.

“Seriously, why do you care so much?” Even though he probably didn’t want to know, Sasuke couldn’t help asking. “You don’t like guys, and I’m kind of sure Ino wouldn’t want to date a public figure anyway.”

It was Sakura’s turn to blush, and she tugged at her hair like she always did when she didn’t want to admit something.

“Oh, well, you see, I heard that his sister is…”

“Oh, come on!” Sasuke scrubbed at his face, suffering from too many sleepless nights to deal with this. “You’re trying to set someone up with Gaara so you can flirt with his sister?”

“So what,” Sakura defended herself with, pouting at him. “Do you even know how cool she is? No, of course you don’t! There’s only room for one blond in your life!”

She threw her hands in the air, exasperated, and Sasuke was one second from grabbing her and flinging her into a wall or something when Naruto laughed.

“Really? Temari? I mean yeah, she’s pretty scary, but I don’t think I could see her with anyone besides Shikamaru. They’re like, half married.”

Cue both Sasuke and Sakura giving him incredulous stares.

“Married?” Sakura echoed. “To Shikamaru?! That’s so, I mean, I can’t even, Sasuke?”

“I have no idea what Temari is like but yeah, that’s messed up.”

“Hmm, I guess they haven’t met here…” Naruto tilted his head, frowning, and Sasuke had to look away from the too familiar image.

Sadly it meant his eyes landed on Shisui instead, the man barely concealing an amused grin as he weaved through the crowd towards them. When their eyes locked, Sasuke felt a shiver of trepidation run down his spine. If Shisui was coming for him, then it definitely couldn’t be good.

“Little cousin~” Shisui sang as he came near enough, squeezing between an elderly couple and the shop wall behind them. “Why are you hiding in the crowd, hm?”

“What do you want?” He tried to keep the words neutral, but some of his despair must have shown on his face because Shisui’s grin broke out in full.

“No need to look so scared, Charasuke! I thought you’d be happy to know we found you an oh-so-important task! You wanted more responsibility, right?”

If looks could kill… Still, murder was a crime, and Sasuke had heard enough unpleasant stories about prison to keep out of there.

“I hate you,” he gritted out instead through clenched teeth, still not over what had happened during that night-meeting. “And whatever it is, I decline.”

He could feel Naruto and Sakura’s worried gazes on him, but Shisui merely shrugged.

“Too bad, our esteemed Hokage already agreed. Come on, they’ll arrive any minute now.”

“No,” he blurted out, digging his heels in when Shisui stretched a hand out. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“It’s really not that bad, okay? Someone just needs to guide Gaara around while the adults have a boring meeting.”

“Sakura can do it.”

“Yeah! I’d love t-“

“Nope!” Shisui popped the word, looking as amused as ever, but Sasuke wasn’t so sure it was real anymore. “Now let’s go, before someone has the idea to ask Neji. No one wants a catastrophe like _that_.”

Sasuke could only agree. Not that it made him want to go, but Shisui had already taken hold of his arm and all but dragged him through the crowd. Why they didn’t just take the back roads was beyond him, but as soon as they reached the base of the tower he could spot the Kazekage entourage in the distance.

“Are you at least going to tell me why?” he muttered to Shisui, pointedly ignoring Itachi despite standing next to him.

“Hmm, well, it was a last minute request. Someone his age, a guy preferably, pretty if possible…”

“There is no way they said that.”

Shisui grinned down at him, and he could hear Itachi’s discreet cough next to him.

“Unfortunately, little brother, those appear to be the exact words used. Along with a list of things he’d like to do.”

Sasuke felt his heart sink inside his chest. Sure, he’d been desperate for a distraction, but that did _not_ include playing date to some Kazekage son who was probably awful company.

“I hate you so much,” he groaned, eyeing the approaching group and wishing he was anywhere else.

Preferably in bed, alone, with a box of tomatoes to keep him company.

“Sorry kid, but duty calls.”

Shisui patted his back, and didn’t look sorry at all.

Asshole.

He kept his back straight and stood waiting as the Kazekage slowly made his way over, ignoring the looks he got (except from Neji, that look he returned with a smug smile because he deserved it) and generally trying to keep himself together. Hopefully Gaara wasn’t too bad. As long as he didn’t flirt with him, because Sasuke didn’t think he could handle that right now and be nice about it. Maybe Gaara just didn’t want to join the meeting and didn’t care if Sasuke was fun company or not.

When the Kazekage finally got close enough for him to discern faces, Sasuke blinked in surprise at bright red hair on the kage’s right side. Not what he expected, but he supposed the guy wasn’t too bad-looking. Probably a little shorter than him, slender build (which was good, he was _not_ feeling up to hanging out with some muscle guy out to shred his self confidence), and wearing the telltale full body robes they wore in Suna to protect from the constant wind and sand.

He kept his eyes trained on the guy as they approached, uncaring of how rude it was to openly stare. He would be polite when talking, sure, but no one had (yet) told him to be nice.

There were greetings, introductions, a speech or two by the Hokage, and suddenly they were all being shuffled inside the Hokage tower. Nawaki flagged him down once they were inside the lobby, and he reluctantly headed over to the Hokage’s brother. Sure enough Gaara was there already, pale green eyes meeting Sasuke’s for a short instance as he shuffled closer.

“There you are, Sasuke. This is Gaara, the Kazekage’s youngest son. Gaara, this is Sasuke, youngest son of the Uchiha clan leader. Now, why don’t you go sightseeing or something and return on time for dinner? It’s at five. Have fun!”

And just like that, Sasuke was left in awkward silence.

“Hello,” Gaara murmured, bowing slightly. “Sorry to inconvenience you.”

Well, at least he had the decency to be sorry. Sighing internally, Sasuke plastered a polite smile on his face and bowed back.

“No need to be so formal. So, where do you want to go?”

As it turned out, Gaara was an easy to please tourist. He’d been to Konoha once before, when he was a child, so Sasuke filled him in on what had changed. They visited the shrine, the Hokage mountain, the training grounds (Gaara declined a spar), the arena where the chuunin exams were held every fifth year, and had lunch at a small fish restaurant. Eventually they ended up walking aimlessly around the market, Sasuke trying and mostly failing to make small talk as they inspected the stands.

It was strange, because Gaara was very polite, but always kept his distance. In a busy place such as the market there would always be people bumping into you at one point, but he took great care to avoid being touched. Maybe he just didn’t like being touched, it wasn’t Sasuke’s place to ask, but Gaara didn’t seem like it made him uncomfortable. He just avoided people, almost as a reflex.

”Do you want to go somewhere else?” he asked a few minutes later, when they’d reached the other end of the open square, noticing how consideration flitted over Gaara’s otherwise carefully neutral face for a second. “There’s a park nearby, we could buy some dango and eat there?”

“I’d like that,” Gaara said quietly, and it was almost the longest sentence he’d gotten out of the other ninja in the hours they’d spent together.

Not that Sasuke minded talking usually, but he was in a _mood_ and Gaara wasn’t helping to lift the initial awkward atmosphere. At least eating didn’t require talking, and they sat down on a rickety bench overlooking an arrangement of planted flowers, though only a few stubborn ones still bloomed. Sasuke quietly hoped he wasn’t expected to join in on dinner, though he knew Sakura had to. One of the ‘perks’ of being the daughter of a previous Hokage. Which probably meant that if Itachi won the vote, Sasuke would have a whole new set of responsibilities just by being closely related to him. Fantastic.

“I should apologize,” Gaara broke the silence with, dango eaten and trash put away. “I’m sure you had better things to do.”

Sasuke blinked at him.

“Well, I didn’t exactly offer to guide you around, but it’s okay.”

“Yes, well, it was still nice of you.” Gaara placed his hands on his lap, fingers nervously picking at fabric. “I rarely get to visit other villages, so I’m happy I could. I don’t know anyone here except Menma, but he mentioned you once so I thought I’d ask for you. Since they told me he’s away on a mission.”

Definitely more words than Sasuke expected to hear, but the cold washing over him at the mention of Menma’s name made the surprise short-lived.

“Oh.”

“I hope you don’t mind!”

“It’s fine, really.”

“And-“ Gaara bit his lip, appearing to struggle with words. He was almost tearing at the fabric of his robe now, and Sasuke felt the urge to reach over and hold his hands still. “I wanted to apologize because-  I think-“

When Gaara ran a shaky hand through his hair, Sasuke found that the kanji drawn in red ink on his forehead was the one for love. Gaara’s hair was long enough that it had been mostly covered until now, and Sasuke wondered if he was self-conscious about it because he hurriedly patted his hair down again once he seemed to realize he’d shown it.

“I think,” Gaara continued after a deep breath, “that my father is trying to set us up? I’m sorry you must hate that.”

“I… wasn’t aware this was a set-up.”

“Oh. Um. Sorry then. I know you’re with Menma but he kind of told us not to tell anyone so…”

Menma talked about him? With other people? Like _Gaara_?

“So how do you know him anyway?” he asked, avoiding the other thing because he was _over it, seriously, he’s so dead to you_ , and tried to focus instead on the way Gaara seemed to shrink in on himself under Sasuke’s attention.

“Oh, we’re, I mean, I’m also a jinchuuriki? So we have those meetings? There was one just two months ago.”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that. It made sense for them to know each other, but he still wasn’t sure why Menma had mentioned him. Maybe because no one else at those meetings was from Konoha? While Sasuke might have wanted to put something more permanent as a label on their relationship, Menma had been very clear that there would be no mention of ‘boyfriends’ or ‘lovers’ around people they knew. And well, now he knew that Menma had never thought of him as anything important, anyway.

“So what did he say about me?”

If Gaara noticed the feigned nonchalance he didn’t comment, only blushed and gnawed at his lower lip before replying.

“Some of the others were complaining that it’s so hard to find and keep a lover when you carry a bijuu, but he said it was easy to be with you.”

Gaara must have misinterpreted his complete shock as something else because he hurried to explain, turning towards Sasuke with wide eyes.

“I don’t know anything about it because I haven’t tried, but they say that ever since the bijuu lost consciousness it’s been almost impossible for jinchuuriki to have relationships, but I know that Menma’s parents somehow work together and there was an argument if it was possible because they’re from the Uzumaki clan… What do you think?”

Sasuke had no idea what to think.

“We never really talked about that,” he said, swallowing down the lump in his throat.

“Because some others said it wasn’t because they were Uzumaki but because there was something special about Menma’s dad and about you. That you had compatible chakra. Or something. And that it’s really hard to find someone who can deal with your bijuu chakra when you’re…”

Gaara trailed off, a furious blush taking over his face.

“I don’t know, it’s just what they were saying.”

The memories came rushing back to him, then, flooded his mind and fitting possible puzzle pieces together.

_“Aren’t you going to touch me then?” he’d mocked Menma with, after yet another fight, after they had somehow ended up kissing in the middle of things after Sasuke had teased and teased finally broke through, and Menma had jumped back right after as if pushed. “Or am I not good enough for you?”_

_Menma had looked so torn, and Sasuke had thought it was just about the fight, about Menma still not wanting to admit his attraction. His lips had been tingling almost unpleasantly, and when he closed in on Menma again he’d felt the charge of electricity in the air between them, though he’d chalked it up to a feeling of victory._

_“You act tough but you don’t even know how to kiss, is that what gets you so angry? Too scared to get laid?”_

_“Shut up!” Menma had yelled at him, but Sasuke had kept going, kept moving until he’d caught Menma against a wall and pushed him up against it, breathless from the scorching heat wherever they touched._

_“I can shut up,” he’d purred against Menma’s mouth, because this was the one thing he was really good at, and Menma fell easy prey to him once he’d been caught._

Afterwards, Menma had spent a long time just lying still and staring at the ceiling of their hotel room, barely reacting as Sasuke showered and went to get them food. Was this why? Because they were _compatible_ , because Sasuke had goaded him to admit his attraction and touching him had felt like burning up, like Menma’s touch had been branded onto his skin and wouldn’t disappear no matter how much soap he used.

Had it not just been Sasuke, then, who felt like their bodies melted into each other, who felt like once undressed they bared their souls to each other in a way he’d never imagined could happen.

But if it wasn’t _just_ sex, if it wasn’t _just_ using Sasuke for convenience, why did he throw Sasuke away like he meant nothing?

“I don’t understand,” he whispered, startled when Gaara shifted beside him.

“Some people think that the other person just needs to have resilient chakra, or be from a clan that has a strong bloodline limit,” Gaara said, avoiding Sasuke’s eyes. “So that the other person won’t be consumed by the bijuu chakra. My father thinks like that.”

Sasuke frowned down at the ground, trying to make sense of his thoughts. He wasn’t sure why Gaara was telling him all this, well, aside from apologizing for the apparent matchmaking going on, but it certainly made him question Menma’s motives.

“Okay. Um, thanks for telling me.”

Gaara nodded, back to fiddling with his hands. He seemed to have exhausted his amount of words for the day, content to sit in silence as Sasuke mulled the new information over. Menma had told him many things, but he’d never mentioned this particular aspect of being a jinchuuriki. And this coupled with the fact that the village had been spying on Menma, something he might have known…

He didn’t know what to think, but he knew he couldn’t take Menma’s words for the truth just like that anymore. And he’d come to see him yesterday, hadn’t he? He hadn’t seemed like he never wanted to see Sasuke again, more like…

Like he never _would_ see him again.

Clenching his fists, nails digging into his palms, Sasuke struggled to force air down his lungs. He could have asked Menma, could have stopped and _thought_ about it, because it hadn’t made sense but Sasuke had been _hurt_ , and now it might be too late.

“I think we need to go, it’s almost five,” Gaara mumbled, standing up to brush his robes off.

It still hurt, and he desperately wished that the past few weeks had never happened.

“Yeah, I’ll walk you there but I’m not going.”

When Gaara seemed like he was about to protest, Sasuke abruptly stood and headed for the tower, chest stinging with pain.

If anything happened to Menma, he wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive his family.

xxx

Itachi wasn’t happy, coming out of the meeting. First of all he wasn’t happy about being a Hokage candidate, but he was even less happy about this meeting, which he would have been forced to attend regardless.

“You look… not happy,” Shisui said as they reached one of the balconies, escaping for a brief break before dinner.

“Your observational skills are astounding.”

Shisui snorted, slipping his hand into Itachi’s, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. It did wonders for the tension in his body, even if he’d never admit it.

“I try.”

They stood there for a while, looking into the distance, Shisui’s cheek on Itachi’s shoulder.

“Things aren’t going to be easy, are they,” Shisui added, as if continuing his previous sentence and not leaving it with minutes between.

“Again with the observations,” Itachi murmured, sighing heavily. “I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive you for nominating me, by the way.”

“But you still love me.”

“I wonder…”

Shisui hit his arm, pouting, and it was enough to draw a small smile from him. It slipped as soon as he remembered the meeting, however, a hundred options fighting inside his brain and none of them helpful.

“Do you think-“

“Shh,” Shisui hushed him, squeezing his hand. “Let’s not think about it right now. We’ll figure something out. You’ll just work yourself up if you think about it too much.”

Easier said than done, but Shisui knew him better than he probably knew himself.

“Yeah,” he said, releasing another sigh. “Yeah, sure. Of course we’ll figure something out.”

For once, Shisui didn’t comment on his pessimism. All he did was move a little closer, hair tickling Itachi’s chin, offering what little comfort there was to give.

It would have to be enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all of this seems thought-out because you know me, the master of winging it :) It will probably take me a while to update again because of the end of the semester coming up and all those other fics, but I will try. As for Gaara, we don't know what his road to ninja alternate self is like, so I went with artistic freedom again. I hope it wasn't too weird. 
> 
> Next chapter we'll get some more Menma POV and probably lots of other stuff that I haven't really decided yet. I do want you to know though that this isn't the end of the fic, haha. When is the end, you ask? Wish I knewﾟ+.(ﾉ*･ω･)ﾉ*.☆ﾟ･:*☆


	37. The calm before the storm part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes hello, I finally return! I wrote this chapter in like a day, BUT GUESS WHAT. I had a breakthrough and figured out the plot in detail. I'm actually very proud of myself.
> 
> I got a very angry review last chapter that I don't update this story often enough and it's such a hassle to reread things blah blah. You think I never have to reread things when I get update notifications of fics I follow? Lol. Anyway, since it has been a while and 99% of you are nice people, I've typed out a summary below of what is going on right now. 
> 
> I was also asked if I can somehow differentiate between the two Sasukes a bit more, but I couldn't figure out a way to do it in text. I've tried to be as clear as I can, but I wrote out a list of point of views for the scenes in this chapter, which should help. Sasuke and Charasuke don't interact in this chapter so at least they won't be in the same place at the same time.
> 
> Previously on:  
> Sasuke has been assigned a mission together with Fugaku, Naori (a police officer) and Menma, and left in the morning. The mission is to capture a missing nin and investigate some strange chakra signatures in the Land of Tea, but also Sasuke has been asked to keep a close eye on Menma. Naruto was then asleep, meeting Kaguya! She told him Sasuke will die if he goes back to their original dimension, which made him very sad:( The kazekage then arrives, and Charasuke is made to take Gaara on a tour around the village. Gaara tells Charasuke that Menma has talked about him, and that for jinchuuriki it's very hard to find and keep lovers, but Charasuke seems to be compatible with bijuu chakra. Gaara's dad therefore kind of wants to set them up. Menma also had a bit of an angsty inner monologue where he feels like he's 'running towards his end'. 
> 
> POV's this chapter:  
> 1-Sasuke (canon)  
> 2-Obito  
> 3-Charasuke  
> 4-Itachi  
> 5-Sasuke (canon)
> 
> No Menma pov as promised bc it didn't work out the way I wanted to. Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and especially a big welcome to all new readers! Sorry for my slow update rates, Yuri on ice is just too good. I'm in Japan visiting Nora and let me tell you, I'm buying all the merch I can see (almost). 
> 
> Kiri - hidden mist village, land of water  
> Kumo - hidden cloud village, land of lightning  
> Iwa - hidden stone village, land of earth
> 
> Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter!

It was a small relief that the nights had not yet turned cold, because Sasuke couldn’t sleep. He’d spent a while trying to figure out why – was it the open space around him? The quiet shuffling of animals in the forest? The last, flickering embers of their fire?

He really should have known it would be the lack of Naruto’s body heat, the dampened strength of their shared beat that told him just how much distance lay between them.

So no, Sasuke couldn’t sleep, but he would make a good job of pretending.

As the first rays of dawn trickled through the thick tree crowns, he noticed Menma rising from his blankets. They took no shifts to guard the camp, only setting out a few traps to alert them of any dangers, which made the stealth of Menma’s movements suspicious.

Not guarding the camp seemed foolish in Sasuke’s opinion, which was why he’d summoned a few small snakes to circle them. No more than a second after Menma had quietly jumped onto a tree branch did one of them slither up to him, hissing into his face.

He’d been surprised that the snakes appeared when he summoned them, but they were so tiny that they couldn’t even speak. He supposed that as long as they didn’t require the blood contract, summoning the snakes in this dimension was fine. All they needed was a bit of his chakra and then they happily patrolled.

“I know,” he murmured to the agitated snake, stroking it over its head to feed it some chakra.

Taking care to move as quietly as Menma, he jumped up into the trees as well and followed the faint tracks left behind. They took him to a small forest spring, water pouring from a gap in the rocky ground to swirl happily around the pool before continuing off into a small brook. Menma sat on a patch of grass next to the spring, staring deeply into the clear water.

“Something on your mind?” Sasuke asked as he landed next to him, keeping his voice carefully neutral.

“Worried about me? I’m not your boyfriend.”

Menma’s voice was dry, and he didn’t spare Sasuke a look.

“Just curious.”

“Well, go be curious somewhere else.” He picked up a small stone, turning it over in his hand before flicking it into the water. “Let’s not pretend we care about each other.”

“Oh, I didn’t ask out of concern,” Sasuke countered, letting his tone drop to similarly dry. “I find you unpleasant to be around.”

At this, Menma leaned back to look at him, eyebrows raised in such a self-deprecating way that Sasuke almost reeled back. Naruto _never_ looked like that, and the expression made his stomach churn.

“Fantastic,” Menma drawled. “We finally have something in common.”

Not knowing what to answer, Sasuke frowned at him. He hadn’t been around Menma much, and he wondered if it was something he could ever get used to. It was like a Naruto clone that mimicked someone else’s personality, twisting the familiar features into unfamiliar expressions.

“I dislike you too, you know,” Menma added, settling back to lean on his forearms, tilting his face towards the reddish sky. “But I think Sasuke likes you.”

“He’s not bad,” Sasuke agreed, shifting a little.

Despite knowing that Menma was talking about Charasuke, it felt strange to hear his own name mentioned by a Naruto-look-alike.

“He doesn’t think he’s hot shit like you do. He-“

Menma paused, thinning his lips. He seemed angry with himself, and Sasuke caught himself wondering about the reasons behind their falling out.

“I’m heading back,” Menma said, getting up on his feet, not waiting to see if Sasuke followed before leaving.

Opting to stay behind for a while, Sasuke contemplated prying for more information. He’d been told to keep an eye on Menma, after all, but what did Charasuke have to do with anything? Still, Menma was definitely acting suspicious, and he could understand that the village felt uneasy when a carrier of something as powerful as the kyuubi seemed to follow a different agenda.

He rubbed his temples, tired of all the things he didn’t know. If only Naruto was there with him-

Shaking his head, he resolutely decided not to think about Naruto while on the mission. He wouldn’t do any good on the team if he spent his time distracted from the task at hand. Taking a deep breath he followed Menma back towards the camp, fingers itching to take out his katana and practice.

Only one day left travelling.

xxx

They were in the middle of lunch at the Hokage tower when Obito noticed a medic nin making her way over to Tsunade, shrinking in on herself at the turn of heads. The Kazekage continued retelling his story, though his voice faltered slightly at the lack of attention from Tsunade. The girl whispered something to the Hokage, wringing her hands, and the atmosphere dropped in the room as Tsunade’s brows furrowed.

“Obito,” she called across the table, “if you don’t mind?”

Important, then, but not terribly so. He rose, excusing himself with a nod, rolling his eyes at Itachi’s pitying look. The lunch was quite good, after all.

“Well?” he asked as they left the dining hall, the girl – who was most likely a student at the hospital – skittish by his side.

“Ah, Orochimaru-sensei needs some assistance…”

She didn’t elaborate, and Obito didn’t ask. He followed her in silence, walking the short distance between the hospital and the tower at a brisk pace. She took him straight to Orochimaru’s office, knocking three times on the door before excusing herself with a bow. Obito didn’t bother waiting for permission before opening it.

“I take it Tsunade is busy?” Orochimaru asked drily as he closed the door behind him, noticing a second occupant in the room.

Naruto looked put-out, feet propped onto the seat of his chair and chin resting on his knees.

“Yes,” Obito replied simply, side-eyeing Orochimaru for any clues as to the matter, but all the doctor did was wave him towards an empty chair.

“Any objections, Naruto?” Orochimaru asked pleasantly, receiving a small glare for his question.

“I have nothing more to tell.”

Clearing his throat, Obito sent a meaningful look Orochimaru’s way.

“Well,” the man said, “perhaps Naruto can explain.”

“You make it sound like I’m being scolded for misbehaving,” Naruto retorted, though silently, Obito had to agree.

“If it was important enough to send after Tsunade, I’d like to hear what you have to say,” he said, turning the chair to face Naruto.

“Fine,” Naruto sighed, picking at some invisible lint on his moss green shirt. “I had a visit from Kaguya.”

“When?”

Naruto bit his lip, and Orochimaru gave him a disapproving look.

“Yesterday morning.”

Leaning back, Obito refrained from turning the meeting into a real scolding. It was difficult sometimes to see Naruto as the strong and experienced ninja he knew him to be from his stories, especially now that he slumped in his chair with a childish pout on his face.

“Is there a reason you waited this long?”

A shrug, and then Naruto straightened up a bit.

“Everyone seemed busy with the Kazekage’s visit. It’s not like it couldn’t wait a couple days.”

Obito raised his eyes to the heavens for a moment, wondering if Naruto truly thought it could wait or if he was just being a bratty teenager.

“And what, exactly, did she say that made you think it could wait?”

Orochimaru tensed, his eyes narrowed into slits as he regarded Naruto. He looked a little like a snake that isn’t entirely sure yet if it should be offended or not.

“It’s personal.”

When Naruto didn’t continue, Obito caught the look from Orochimaru that said _Oh believe me, I’ve tried_.

“It’s personal,” he echoed, and Naruto stubbornly stared at the wall. “What part of you and Sasuke entering this dimension and talking to a literal chakra goddess do you find _personal_?”

“Most of it,” Naruto replied, and if he hadn’t looked absolutely serious, Obito would have considered something drastic.

“Right. And how do you expect us to help you if you don’t tell us what’s going on?”

At this, Naruto turned to him with an incredulous look, and Obito found that he had to reevaluate the man in front of him. Did Naruto… not expect to get any help? Did he think them unable to help, or unwilling?

“No offense, Obito, but what’s the strongest enemy Konoha has faced? You mentioned something about one of the bijuus, before?”

“Are you saying we’re weak?”

“I’m saying you’re not prepared.”

Naruto held his gaze, the steady strength in them at odds with his previous sulking.

“We wouldn’t go down that easily,” Obito said slowly, trying to gauge where Naruto was going with this.

“You didn’t hold up that well last time I visited.”

There was nothing Obito could say to that.

“Then what do you suggest we do? Build barricades? Gather up an army?”

Naruto contemplated him, and Obito had to wonder – truly wonder – what it was like to hold all that power, to meet with a god and act only mildly annoyed about it.

“I… wish I could tell you to stay out of it,” Naruto began, eyes flickering to the floor, lost in thought. “Or that I know what we’re up against. But Kaguya didn’t tell me anything about that. She only talked about Sasuke.”

The room fell silent, both he and Orochimaru waiting with baited breaths for Naruto’s next words.

“You know, you get very upset when I or Sasuke keep things from you, but there’s a lot you’re not telling us, isn’t there? About Menma, for example.”

“Yes, well.” Obito shouldn’t find it amusing, but it was at least a little ironic. “You’ll have to take that up with Tsunade.”

“Oh, I will,” Naruto assured him, then stood up and dusted off his pants. “Are we done here?”

“No,” Orochimaru said, but Obito nodded, much to the doctor’s dismay.

“We’ll talk more later. I’ll see what I can do about Tsunade, I do think we should cooperate a bit more.”

“Hmm.” Naruto tilted his head to the side, his gaze assessing. “I like you a lot more than the Obito in my dimension.”

“I should hope so,” Obito said, walking towards the door. “Are we going, then?”

Naruto made a beeline for the door, not bothering to offer Orochimaru a goodbye. Once outside, he did a full-body shiver, sticking his tongue out at the now closed door before they went on their way.

“I don’t know why Sasuke likes snakes so much. That snake sage is always gonna give me the creeps.”

 “Well, I don’t know many snakes that have hurt people.”

“Wow, lucky you! I got swallowed by one of his snakes back when I was a genin!”

“You…” Obito stopped walking, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. “I know you mentioned that you fought him, but that sounds a bit…”

“It was so yucky! Oh but thirteen-year-old me was pretty smart sometimes so I blew the snake up with a bunch of shadow clones.”

Naruto hummed, one hand on his chin.

“I fought a lot of weird people, but I still think he’s the creepiest one. But maybe it’s just me.”

Deciding to keep his thoughts to himself, Obito merely smiled and continued walking through the hospital corridors. They were almost at the lobby when Naruto pulled up short, backtracking to look down a side corridor.

“Was that Kakashi-sensei?”

Obito went to look, but the corridor was empty, only a door closing further down.

“Maybe? He’s not around a lot.”

“Eeh? Why?”

Naruto gave him a suspicious look, as if Obito was purposefully hiding Kakashi from him.

“He’s doing a lot of missions right now. Apparently, he’s working on some bet to complete the highest amount of missions in one year. He probably got pulled in for a check-up, so he doesn’t overwork himself.”

“Oh yeah!” Naruto stretched, scratching at one arm. “He was really weird last time I was here. Like he’d switched places with Gai-sensei.”

“With Gai?” Obito had a hard time picturing the calm and unexpressive man being as overly excited as Kakashi. “I guess there are a lot of differences between our worlds.”

 Naruto snorted, shoving his hands down the pockets of his sweatpants and going on ahead. Obito made to follow, then his eyes caught on the small symbol between his shoulder blades. The Uchiha symbol? Really? Maybe they were married and just hadn’t told anyone.

Stranger things were going on, after all.

Obito decided not to poke his nose in this one.

xxx

“I’m sorry.”

“I know, Gaara. It’s fine.”

“Yes but-“

Sasuke put his hand on Gaara’s wrist, trying not to notice how it caused a blush to form on his cheeks. A pretty blush for sure, but not the reaction he was hoping for.

“I mean it. Let’s just enjoy the movie, okay?”

Gaara sunk lower in his plush seat, retracting his hand when Sasuke let go of it. It was possibly the most awkward thing Sasuke had done in the past weeks, even compared to sharing a bed with both Naruto and the other Sasuke. Somehow he’d been dubbed as Gaara’s guide for the duration of their one week stay, because obviously his brother or cousin wouldn’t do it, and as his mother liked to remind him, Sasuke was the second son of the Uchiha clan leader. Honestly, he only did it because Neji had complained to Hinata who had told basically everyone else and he would _not_ subject Gaara to Neji, thank you very much. 

Even though he’d much rather stay home and be miserable.

“I haven’t seen this movie before,” Gaara said, and Sasuke had to bite back the reply _that’s the goddamn point._

“Let’s hope it’s good,” he said instead, hoping against hope that his family was only making him do this out of social obligation and not because they agreed with Gaara’s dad, who still seemed intent on pairing them up.

Sasuke was not oblivious to his own charms. Just because he’d spent most of them on he-who-shall-not-be-named the past year didn’t mean people had forgotten, and there had been a lot of glances from disappointed fangirls as he stepped into the cinema with the Kazekage’s son.

His only relief was that they didn’t know who he’d been dating the past year. Maybe they thought he and Gaara was in a long distance relationship. It was better than the truth, but not something he wanted to consider.

He wished Sakura was there. Though, to be fair, she _was_ in the back of the theater, pretending she wasn’t stalking them. A position that made her completely _useless_ , when Sasuke needed someone to distract Gaara from taking things the wrong way.

Not that he hadn’t explained, or that Gaara didn’t keep apologizing for the set-up. It would just have made things easier on Sasuke if he didn’t have to do this alone.

“What’s your favorite type of movie?” Gaara asked, playing with the cap on his bottle of soda. “I like historical ones.”

Of course Gaara would like something lame like that.

God, he needed to get a grip. Gaara had done nothing wrong, and he really was a sweet guy. If things were different, Sasuke might have enjoyed sweeping him off his feet, taking him somewhere cute to hand feed him dessert.

As it was, Sasuke did not want to think about the fact that Menma never took him somewhere public, just the two of them. Not where they would be seen, at least.

“Sasuke?”

“Oh, um, I like action? It’s a really obvious answer, isn’t it.”

“No, I can see that. Something exciting. It suits you.”

Staring at Gaara, it was hard to believe that he’d just been told that something exciting suited him. Granted, Sasuke had mostly dated girls before, and he usually lied about his preference to make it something they would also enjoy. Menma had always seen right through him, that Sasuke liked action because he wanted to be the hero. The hero always won, right? No one looked down on the hero, or if they did, they were always regretting it afterwards.  

“You’re such a nice person,” he blurted out, not even wanting to take it back when Gaara’s lips were tugged into a tiny but happy smile.

“Thank you. I, um,” Gaara inhaled, seemingly pep-talking himself into something. “I’ve never been on anything resembling a date before, so I don’t know what to do or say. I mean, not that it’s a date!”

Gaara looked so horrified that Sasuke couldn’t help but laugh, the nice kind of laugh that started low in his belly and spilled from his lips in happy snorts.

“It’s fine, really,” he said, relaxing into his seat. “Let’s have a great not-date, okay?”

It was too dark now to see Gaara’s face properly, all the lamps turning off before the start of the movie. He could sense Gaara’s eyes on him though, like he was struggling for words.

When the screen flickered to life again, white light washing over Gaara’s face, Sasuke found him sporting an unreadable look.

( _It’s not unreadable_ , his subconscious tried to tell him. _He likes you already but knows he can’t have you_.)

“Yeah, okay,” he said eventually, sinking back into his seat as well.

Sasuke did not look forward to talking to Sakura later. Considering he was still staying with her – mostly out of spite at this point – he wouldn’t have much choice.

If he was lucky, Gaara wouldn’t ask to have dinner afterwards.

xxx

Itachi sighed, feeling glum as he watched the preparations going on around him. They were squished into one of the meeting rooms, and TV screens were being set up for the long distance call to the remaining three kages.

Shisui shifted beside him, his arm bumping into Itachi’s. His presence was both a comfort and a cause for irritation, and when Shisui grabbed for his hand under the table, he leaned in to hiss at him.

“It’s your fault we’re here in the first place.”

A rueful quirk of lips, and Shisui laced their fingers together.

“…I love you?”

Again, Itachi sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.

“You didn’t have to do all that paper work for me, you know. You’re not my assistant.”

“As your _boyfriend_ , I wanted you to come home in time for dinner tonight.”

“Considering this meeting might take a while…”

Shisui rolled his eyes, but stayed silent as Tsunade and the Kazekage entered the room. There were two tables set up, one in front of the TVs, another larger one at the back of the room. Already many of the council members crowded around the front one, most of them clan leaders like his mother. At least Itachi didn’t need to participate, not that he looked forward to listening in either. He wasn’t going to win the election, what use did he have for all these meetings?

“If you’re planning to escape, don’t leave me behind,” Shisui mumbled, but all Itachi did was lean his chin in one hand, elbow propped against the armrest, and attempt to stay awake until preparations were done.

“Well then, let’s start the meeting,” Tsunade eventually told them, fixing the glasses on her nose. “You’ve all been informed of the reason for this meeting, and I remind you now that anything said stays between us.”

The room had been soundproofed with chakra, and two Hyuugas went around checking that everyone was who they seemed to be. Not soon enough the TV screens flickered to life, showcasing the leaders of Kumo, Kiri, and Iwa. While the Kazekage was a rather nondescript man with brown hair and a serious face, the other kage showed a bit more flair.

“It’s been a while since we all talked like this,” the Raikage greeted them in his booming voice.

He was a tall and muscled man with white hair and a big mouth (in more than one ways). Itachi had met him a few times, each time feeling as if the man was too large to fit in normal spaces.

“We have important things to discuss,” Tsunade replied, a few of the council members nodding along.

“Well, get on with it,” the Mizukage said, throwing her thick, reddish-brown hair over a shoulder. “I don’t have all night.”

She swept her eyes over the gathered faces, or that’s what Itachi guessed she did since she looked at something behind her camera.

“Ah, is that Itachi-kun?” she asked, smiling prettily. “You haven’t visited in ages!”

 _And for good reason_ , Itachi thought, managing a smile back at her. He didn’t have much against the Mizukage in all honesty, though her temper could be rather unnerving. He just hated how moist the Land of Water was, especially during summer.

“Hang on, we’re having some technical problems,” the Tsuchikage interrupted, his face flickering in and out of view a few times.

Of all the kage, Itachi liked him the least. Maybe because his old age made him grumpy, maybe because he’d been rude towards Deidara during their joint mission in Iwa. Of course, Deidara tended to inspire that reaction in people wherever he went, but Itachi had to think about his loyalties.

Once everything was settled once again, Tsunade wasted no time with introductions.

“As you’ve already been informed, we’re being visited by two dimension travelers. In the weeks since their arrival not much has happened, but we believe that will change soon.”

“And why is that?” the Raikage asked, crossing his arms. “You really think this has something to do with the bijuu?”

“That’s where things point, in any case,” Tsunade said. “Our jinchuuriki, Menma, is currently on a mission that we think will spring a trap.”

“You’re springing a trap?!” the Tsuchikage shouted, his bushy eyebrows shooting up what little hairline he had left. “Typical Konoha, always going ahead doing whatever you want.”

“What about the other jinchuuriki, his mother?” the Mizukage asked, and Tsunade shook her head.

“Her part of the kyuubi’s chakra is inactive. She’s storing it, but so far nothing seems out of order.”

“While I don’t necessarily agree with Tsunade’s choice of action,” the Kazekage spoke up, “I think we all need to prepare for an incident such as the one eighteen years ago.”

The room fell silent, each of them thinking back to what had happened. Within the same year, all nine bijuus had broken out of their hosts and attacked the villages. At the time Konoha possessed both the sanbi and the kyuubi, though the sanbi had been stolen by missing nins and forcefully sealed within a Konoha ninja.  For decades before that, the bijuu had slowly been losing consciousness, becoming the wild beasts that needed sealing so they wouldn’t wreak havoc on the world.

Kushina was the only jinchuuriki that had survived.

“So, what sort of trap are we talking about? How do you know it won’t blow up in your faces?”

It was the Raikage who broke the silence, a worried look passing over his face. Kumo had both the Nibi and the Hachibi, both of them important ninjas close to the kage if Itachi remembered correctly.

 “One of the dimension travelers is with him,” Tsunade replied, and Itachi could see how his mother’s lips pursed in worry. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Her words triggered a heated discussion, and when it seemed like it wouldn’t end anytime soon, Itachi passed a tired hand over his face.

“What do you think is going to happen?” Shisui asked quietly, gnawing on his lower lip.

“Hopefully nothing. If we’re lucky, we get some clues, and figure out why Menma is behaving like he is. If we’re not…”

He left the rest of the sentence hanging, Shisui grimacing.

“Sasuke’s strong.”

Neither of them mentioned their own Sasuke, or the fact that he still avoided coming home. So far Tsunade had been lenient, choosing to wait out the mission results before forcing Sasuke to tell them what he knew about Menma. Itachi wished it didn’t have to be like that, but once they discovered their relationship it was too late to change things. Menma had been monitored since the attack of the masked man, and there had been enough changes to his personality and chakra patterns that _something_ was obviously going on.

Better to trigger it far away from the village.

He didn’t want to think about the other part, about how his brother seemed to be compatible with jinchuurikis. It was no secret that a carrier of a bijuu needed to be careful with strong emotions, as proven by Menma’s anger issues lately setting off the kyuubi. He knew how much his mother had fought against the request of the Kazekage, to no avail. If Sasuke was not only receptive to bijuu chakra but also managed not to trigger it, he was the perfect candidate for a political marriage.

 Well, Itachi would have a thing or two to say about that, if it was ever suggested out in the open.

xxx

As they passed the border into the Land of Tea, Sasuke noticed how Menma grew increasingly unresponsive. Both Fugaku and Naori seemed to notice as well, slowing down the pace until they appeared to be out on an evening stroll. There were no forests here, so they’d been running for a while, and Sasuke did not appreciate the change.

“Shouldn’t we move faster?” he asked, but Fugaku shook his head.

“We’re on time. We’ll meet with our contact at one of the tea houses at the village outskirts, and spend the night. We’ll scope out the area tomorrow in daylight. That should make it easier to find any traces of Kazunari or the attacks.”

Sasuke sighed, glancing at Menma, whose face was passive. He almost seemed distant, in a way, slow in his responses. It was hard to keep an eye on someone when you didn’t know what counts as worrying behavior.

 “I sure hope the tea is good,” Naori said, raising an arm and leaning to the side to stretch.

It sounded strained, like she was making an effort to appear casual. Not that Menma seemed to notice, staring sluggishly into the distance.

Perhaps Menma was not the side mission after all, but rather the reason they were out here in the first place.

The tea house also served as an inn, and they were immediately sat down by a long low-end table in the banquet hall, sitting on the floor on tatami mats. A middle-aged woman sat with them, introducing herself as Miyamoto Asumi, their contact. They made small talk as they ate dinner, though Sasuke kept his replies short. He felt on edge, wondering what to expect. Mysterious chakra signatures could be anything, after all.

Once the dishes had been cleared and tea had been served, Asumi finally stopped talking about vegetables, or whatever it was she’d been eagerly discussing with Fugaku.

“Things have been strange for a while,” she hummed, moving a stray lock of the dark hair that fell to her waist, peering thoughtfully into her tea. “Ever since that man visited – a missing nin, wasn’t it? – there’s been incidents.”

“There had been attacks?” Fugaku asked, and Asumi nodded.

“Nothing severe, but there’s this area up north… People have seen strange white shapes lurking around, and my friend’s child fell through the ground into some sort of half finished tunnel. Most attacks were just horses being spooked, but one of the merchants was adamant that he saw a human-shaped being he called ‘slimy and white’.”

Slimy and white… Sasuke had a bad feeling about this.

“We stay away now, but I suppose your colleagues found something strange as well since you were sent here.”

“Chakra signatures,” Fugaku confirmed, leaning his chin on his clasped hands. “A sensor-type ninja was in the group, and she said there were chakra pulses in the ground, seemingly leading into the area.”

“Well, just be careful if you go there,” Asumi said, tapping a finger against her tea cup. “I don’t know much about ninja business, but we’d rather not have anything like that close to the village.”

Fugaku asked a few more questions, but she didn’t know anything that hadn’t already been reported. Eventually they retired to their rooms, Sasuke forced to share with Menma. The other guy seemed tired, a stark contrast from that morning. Back then he’d seemed agitated, almost, while now he barely managed to wash his face before falling face first onto his futon. Sasuke contemplated mentioning it to Fugaku, but figured he’d keep an eye out and see what things were like in the morning instead.

It was difficult to relax with Menma nearby, at first so still he might as well be dead, but around an hour after falling asleep he started tossing and turning instead, muttering to himself. He didn’t utter words so much as groans and incoherent mumbling, and it made Sasuke wonder if he’d slept at all the night before. Was he having nightmares?

A while longer of this and Sasuke sat up in his own futon, stretching to turn on the ceiling lamp. He observed Menma for a while, noticing the light sheen of sweat on his forehead, the way his face alternated between scrunching up and relaxing. It certainly looked like a nightmare, and Sasuke wasn’t feeling generous enough to try and wake him up from it.

To Sasuke’s relief he calmed down soon enough, breathing evening out until his sleep was peaceful. Turning off the lights again, Sasuke turned to lie facing the wall, back towards Menma. He tried to meditate, but his thoughts kept turning to Naruto. Was he having trouble sleeping, too? Probably. Pushing one hand close to his chest, Sasuke let it curl above his heart. The extra beat inside wasn’t weak per se, but he could feel a definite difference compared to being in the same area as Naruto.

It was honestly a little surprising that he hadn’t noticed any clones following him yet, but perhaps Naruto had been appeased by the teleportation mark. It must be nice to be able to leave marks on anything, he thought with an eye roll, to have everything you want just a quick teleportation away. For a while he entertained the thought of Naruto appearing in front of him, for no reason other than to check on him and be obnoxious. He’d scold Naruto for sure, but maybe he’d let him stay the night, just to see if it would let him sleep. Then he’d kick him out in the morning, ignoring his inevitable smugness. Maybe he could also-

Sasuke froze, holding his breath. Menma had stirred, but rather than toss in a nightmare he’d thrown the covers off himself, sitting up. He listened as Menma’s bare feet touched the tatami mats on the floor, his movements barely emitting any noise as he stood. His neck prickled with Menma’s gaze, and Sasuke carefully angled his fingers towards his wrist, ready to summon a kunai if needed.

For the longest moment, Menma simply stood, staring at him. Then he turned, light on his feet as he went over to the window. They were on the second floor, hardly a height for a ninja, but Sasuke didn’t dare turn as he heard it slide open. It sounded like Menma hopped onto the windowsill, that prickling feeling back on his neck for a second, and then a faint shift in the air as he jumped out.

He only needed a split second to decide.

Glad he’d brought his shoes with him to the room he slipped them on, creeping over to the window, ears attuned to the smallest noises. Menma was nowhere to be seen, but when Sasuke landed softly on the ground after grabbing his katana he could easily detect trampled grass, hurried footsteps leading towards the dirt road that would take him north of the small village.

 _Well,_ he thought, Sharingan flashing red, _finally something happens._

Deciding to leave the other two to sleep, he took up chase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Next chapter we'll finally get some action! Nora said I should just kill Menma and make Charasuke marry Gaara instead, but like. It sounds a bit drastic lol. We also had an argument about the snake summons, but I think I managed to convince her that if Sasuke could actually summon his usual big snakes they would be able to transport him home through dimensions and that would make the whole story kind of pointless lol. 
> 
> I also went back and added actual links to each chapter that mentioned things like art or my tumblr, but I'm also fixing a permanent end note with the link to my tumblr. Feel free to talk to me there!
> 
> Thanks for reading:D


	38. Hit and run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while... Happy new year!!! Let's hope for lots of good things in 2018. 
> 
> POV's this chapter:  
> Naruto  
> Canon Sasuke  
> Sakura (slight bit of time-skip)
> 
> For a previously on - check the previous chapter AN, though what you need to know is mostly that Sasuke is away on his mission and has begun trailing Menma, who is acting very strange. 
> 
> I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter, and I wonder what you'll think... Ah well, please don't kill me for the cliffhanger at the end *sweats*

“And then the little fish swam over to a-“

“Can I eat the fish?”

Naruto took a deep breath, reminding himself that four-year-old kids are not aware of how annoying they are.

“No, you can’t eat the fish, Natsuko.”

“But why not? It looks tasty.”

“It’s not. It’s actually disgusting.”

She wrinkled her nose, grabbing the book from his hands and slamming it shut.

“Then it’s boring.”

“You’re the one that wanted to read it,” Naruto muttered, regretting making the trek to the living room just to fetch this particular book for a bedtime story. “Aren’t you tired? I really think it’s bedtime now.”

“No!”

She wriggled until the covers came off, almost managing to escape before Naruto grabbed her and put her back where she should be, with her head on the pillow.

“I want to do fun things!”

“Like what?”

“Climb! Let’s climb the mountain!”

He would rub his face in frustration if he wasn’t holding her arms down, huffing at her pout.

“It’s really late, so we can’t. But how about I tell you a story about climbing instead?”

Natsuko contemplated this, no longer struggling. He tentatively let her go again, all too aware of how fast she was. Yesterday she’d made it to the hallway before he caught up, but at least she’d giggled the whole way back because he carried her upside down.

“Is it a good one?”

“Of course! It’s the best story ever!”

“ _Fine_ ,” she relented, but it took him three more stories after that before she promptly fell asleep between one question and the next.

Leaving the room quietly he heaved a sigh of relief. Helping Iruka was a good distraction, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t cut out for this. It was a lot harder to reason with kids than with enemies, except you knew they wouldn’t try to kill you. At least not knowingly.

“She finally fell asleep, huh?” Iruka asked when he ventured into the kitchen and slumped at the table.

“Kids are _terrible_ ,” he moaned, head falling onto his folded arms. “How do you do this every single day?”

“Practice,” Iruka laughed, stirring the soup meant for tomorrow’s lunch. “But they seem to like you.”

“Yeah, I don’t know… yesterday, Mitsuru tried to ambush me five times. He called me target practice!”

“And I’m sure he’ll continue with it. He’s working really hard to become a ninja, after all.”

Naruto picked at a small scratch in the tabletop, listening to Iruka humming under his breath. He wondered, not for the first time, what things would have been like had he grown up like this. Would Sasuke have joined them after his family died? Maybe the two of them would have shared a room, even. Of course Sasuke would act all snotty about it, and not show he was sad. Maybe if things were like that, Orochimaru wouldn’t have stolen Sasuke as easily…

“Shouldn’t you be getting into bed, too?” Iruka asked, pulling him out of the daydream.

“I guess.”

He’d rather not, actually, because it just reminded him that Sasuke was off on that mission, and the bed felt infinite amounts colder without him in it. Still, he dragged himself towards his room, took a long shower, thinking some more about possible pasts.

It wasn’t the most fun thing to think about, but at least he had the small comfort that if they managed to become close despite what things were actually like, then they probably would be close if things were better. Then again, they could have ended up like Menma and Charasuke. He wasn’t entirely sure what Menma had done, and Charasuke wouldn’t tell when Naruto asked him earlier that morning. He’d just claimed he was still busy with Gaara, avoiding the question.

Naruto didn’t like it if he were honest with himself, that Sasuke was off on some strange mission with Menma, of all people. He bit at his nails as he tried to reassure himself that nothing was going to happen. Besides, Sasuke could take care of himself. He was the strongest person Naruto knew. He-

It came like a blow, except it erupted inside his chest and spread through his body. He gasped against the pain, clutching at his shirt. When it faded he drew in a shaky breath, realizing that it wasn’t his heart beating like mad – it was that connection they shared, the steady beat that always told him when Sasuke was close.

Again – the strength of it staggering. Like someone was trying to punch him through the bed frame, but from the inside. Their connection fluttered violently, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He had to-

The third time had him coughing, rolling out of bed to crawl towards his shoes, pulling them on between shallow breaths.

_Come on_ , Kurama muttered, urging him on. _We’d better get going_.

The fourth time felt like an earthquake, except the ground was still as Naruto shook, struggling to stay on his feet.

_Ready?_

Naruto closed his eyes, forcing his chakra to focus and mingle with Kurama’s. He aimed for the mark on Sasuke’s neck, pictured it clearly in his mind, and-

Between one breath and the next, Naruto flickered out of sight.

xxx

Menma didn't run far, but he ran fast and Sasuke wasn't sure how cautious he needed to be while following. There was also the possibility that Menma _wanted_ to be followed, that he was leading Sasuke towards a trap. Well, what better way to deal with him than to spring that trap?

He activated his sharingan, happy for a chance to try it out now that he could switch it on in its different stages and didn't have to use full power right away. It was enough of a warning in case Menma turned around and came charging.

It annoyed him that there was mostly open fields around them, forcing him to crouch as he ran, but at least it made it easy to follow Menma's path. He could feel the adrenaline starting to flow, all his senses attuning to possible danger. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't missed it, though not necessarily in a good way.

Maybe it was because the past year had taught him the difference between survival instinct and the thrill of a fight, but there was a churning feeling in his stomach accompanying the faint excitement. He wasn’t sure what this  _apprehension_  was coming from. There was just something slightly off about it, to go back to stealthy running towards a target when he'd spent so much time strolling around in the open.

It  _should_  feel like settling into a familiar routine, but maybe it was the fact that Menma was similar to Naruto yet wrong in so many ways that had him unsettled.

Eventually Menma's presence dropped underground, and moments later Sasuke reached a small hill that probably wasn't natural. Sure enough there was an entrance hidden with genjutsu, and Sasuke doubted anyone would discover it unless they were an expert in the field. Apparently the Hyuuga clan members investigating before them hadn’t been able to do a detailed search, merely noting down the area where the chakra paths running underground seemed to origin. And now, Sasuke had to do all the dirty work for them…

Well, he could have woken the others up. Too late now, as he cautiously made his way inside the small hill. It was dark inside of course, a steep pathway leading downwards and giving him flashbacks to Orochimaru’s many hideouts. Those hideouts were usually lit by torches though, at least if they were being used.

He could hear faint rustling noises from below, but couldn’t tell if they came from humans or not. If Naruto or Karin had been here he wouldn’t have had to guess whether or not that meant Menma was waiting alone. Really, why did no one think to bring a sensor type to this mission? Just three Uchiha and an unstable jinchuuriki…

Then again, if Menma was the reason for the mission in the first place, bringing Uchiha able to control the kyuubi made a lot of sense.

Slowly he made his way down, hearing Naruto’s annoying nagging to not rush headfirst into traps, as if Naruto ever listened to his own advice. Such a hypocrite, really. At least the tunnel seemed stable enough, shaped by what felt like dried, compact earth. It was eerily quiet besides the faint shuffling from wherever the tunnel ended, impatience making his skin crawl. Much to his dismay, he and Naruto were both better at going into a fight head-on, instead of wasting time on all this creeping around.

After what felt like half an eternity the sound changed, indicating the end of the tunnel was near. He kept close to one side, suppressing his presence as much as he could. Sometimes the sage powers weren’t entirely cooperative, causing him to leak small bursts of chakra. Not a problem when sparring with Naruto since it was useless anyway to try and hide from him, but now he regretted not practicing more.

He hadn’t precisely expected to go on stealth missions in the near future, after all.

The tunnel smelled of stale air, gradually becoming lighter. Those faint shuffling noises increased in volume, like a large amount of people dragging their feet as they walked. Nerves pulled tight Sasuke hesitated by a bend in the tunnel, where enough light reached to let him see most of the ground and walls. Menma was surely close now, but whether or not he laid in wait was impossible to tell. He took a cautious step forwards, leaning to try and see past the bend. He clenched his hands, digging his nails into his hands to keep them from trembling.

Why was he so worked up over this? He’d been in so many worse situations, hadn’t felt this reluctant to move since his genin days.

Swallowing down the feeling he eased his head forwards, pressed against the dirt wall. There was more of the tunnel ahead, but the opening was in view – perhaps twenty meters away. Beyond the edge was what looked like a vast open space, the light muted and pale. It left him with two choices, either rush ahead and hope for the best, or hope no one had a view of the opening as he crept towards it.

A more sensible ninja might have chosen the latter option, or even turned back to get the others. Sasuke, however, felt much too annoyed with himself to bother with thinking things through.

One deep breath, Mangekyo at the ready, and he was off.

The opening at the end of the tunnel wasn’t much more than a carved-out half circle, but Sasuke jumped above it and held onto the wall of what appeared to be a huge cave. The light came from little gaps in the ceiling above as well as a few fluorescent stripes along the bottom of the walls. Far below him was the source of the shuffling – a mass of white Zetsus, swaying in a breeze he couldn’t detect.

The cave itself seemed manmade, the walls smooth rock, stretching out in front of him with no end in sight. Here and there were piles of rocks, interspersed between the mass of white bodies. Sasuke could see their chakra, though it was weak; traces of it pulsating up the walls. This must be what the Hyuuga had seen, but for what reason would they waste chakra like that?

Menma was nowhere in sight, and Sasuke took a moment to consider his options. There was no point in engaging the Zetsu copies unless they attacked, and Fugaku would probably tell him to focus on Menma and gathering as much information as possible. This didn’t mean his fingers were void of twitching with the urge to drench them all in fire, see how far the cave stretched in the light of flames.

The presence of this many Zetsus had implications he’d rather not think about, brought with it memories he’d tried to suppress best he could. There was no point in hesitating though, and so he cautiously moved towards the right, following the length of the cave sideways. He couldn’t see any traps or guards, everything eerily quiet aside from the slow movements below. His katana felt heavy in its belt, a few beads of cold sweat gathering at his neck. Something much bigger than they’d anticipated was going on, and he didn’t like it one bit. Sometimes he wondered if his life was just bound to be like this forever – a long string of shitty circumstances.

The worst part was that he couldn’t run, because every small sound he made seemed enlarged in here, every faint thud of his feet like a blaring warning to anyone listening. Maybe he should just burn his way through the Zetsus after all…

When he couldn’t see either end of the narrow cave something changed. He froze, ears attuned to the sudden silence. A glance downwards showed that the Zetsus had stopped moving, still enough to be statues. Sasuke held his breath, eyes frantically scanning the area. Nothing, more nothing, then-

A bunch of Zetsus were thrown aside when the kyuubi emerged from between them, scattering like debris. The fox snarled, red tails swishing angrily, eyes narrowed onto Sasuke. This wasn’t the same Menma as before, back at the mock tournament. The chakra leaking from the kyuubi felt out of control, hot and heavy and filling the suddenly cramped cave. It took a step forwards, clawed paw crushing white clones underneath it, nails digging into the ground with a crunching noise.

He moved right in time, throwing himself to the left as one tail hit the cave wall, cracks running up and down from the impact area. His heart beat wildly against his ribs, one hand grabbing his katana, the other gathering lightning chakra. He could feel the chakra pulsate through his hand, and when the fox launched again he jumped forward, grabbing onto one tail and letting chakra spike through it. The kyuubi roared and tried to shake him off. Instead he went for the back, landing on soft fur, hoping Charasuke wouldn’t be too upset as he drove his sword through tough muscle.

It didn’t do much damage. As soon as he pulled out the wound closed up, stitching itself together much like he’d seen Naruto do. He swore, and then the kyuubi – or maybe it was still Menma, somewhere in there – rolled onto its back.

Sasuke had no choice but to run across the heads and shoulders of Zetsu clones, narrowly avoiding their grabbing hands and pointed teeth. Many more of them got crushed under the kyuubi, and Sasuke sent a few fireballs towards it. They were swiped away by tails, snuffed out before reaching the walls.

He was starting to feel like maybe this was a bad idea, after all.

Crouching on a wall he tried to focus, pushing out everything screaming at him to leave, _now_ , and run as far away as possible.

It was new, and utterly unhelpful, with no logic to it. It was probably another side effect after his meeting with Kaguya, and Sasuke gritted his teeth with force because he hadn’t felt afraid since he was twelve years old.

Or since he fought Itachi.

Or-

He was interrupted as Menma charged again, attempting to trap him against the cave wall. This time a chidori to the face didn’t do any lasting damage, only managed to buy him a few seconds as the kyuubi howled, Sasuke running at top speed towards the beginning of the cave. If he managed to make it back outside he’d have a much easier time, because this cramped space certainly wasn’t to his advantage.

However, as fast as he was, somehow the kyuubi was faster. A large paw struck the tunnel’s opening, crushing it and part of the wall as well. It was doubtful that the rest of the tunnel remained intact, rubble tumbling down onto the Zetsus below, dust clouds billowing up to hide that part of the wall.

Fine. Sasuke didn’t need an advantage. When did he ever have one, anyway? Besides, the kyuubi could probably burst through the ceiling if Sasuke wanted it to, but then the whole cave might be destroyed and all the evidence buried. He needed to finish this quickly, then tie Menma up in a nice little bundle and go back to the inn.

If his hands could just _stop_ shaking…

As the dust clouds dispersed, Sasuke called forth his Susanoo. The massive chakra vibrated around him, forming a powerful shield of purple energy. It made the kyuubi pause mid-step, growling as its red eyes narrowed. Sasuke had opted for a sword instead of bow and arrow, considering the fox was almost within striking distance thanks to their sheer sizes. It bothered him that Menma hadn’t said anything yet; any time he sparred with Naruto in kyuubi mode the fox living inside him wouldn’t shut up.

“What is this place?” he called, strengthening his grip on the sword, the chakra crackling at the handle. “Some kind of clone factory?”

No answer. Instead the kyuubi stalked closer, until it came face to pointed edge with Sasuke’s giant sword. Hatred burned in its eyes like Sasuke hadn’t seen in years, but the stare was blank, void of consciousness.

It wasn’t hard to break through it, entering the shared mind-space of Menma and his bijuu. Not much was different from Naruto’s mind – an echoing, water-filled cage, greenish light glinting off the giant metal bars. However, the cage was open, dark red chakra oozing out of it, enveloping Menma where he lay on the ground. When Sasuke reached out to touch him the chakra swirled up, almost burning him with sudden heat. A low, sinister laugh came from the darkness beyond the open cage, those red eyes blinking slowly at him.

Still, not a single word uttered.

The laughter echoed off the walls, water sloshing around Sasuke’s ankles as he took a step back. Was this what Obito meant about the bijuu losing consciousness? Menma had evidently lost all control, had most likely done so already back at the inn. But surely he was still alive with his mind intact…

A deep inhale had Sasuke’s skin crawl, and then the kyuubi roared, forcing him out of Menma’s mind.

He pushed, the edge of his sword attempting to drive into the kyuubi’s snout, chakra pushing back at him. This mission would have suited Naruto just a _tiny_ bit better…

A burst of lightning through the sword managed to snap the kyuubi backwards a few steps, and Sasuke swung a quick blow from underneath, stopped by a heavy paw. If he couldn’t think of something better than brute strength he was going to be in trouble…

Still, he swung his sword methodically, trying to find an opening among the tails that tried to reach him. He had a hunch that the kyuubi, for whatever reason, didn’t want to damage the cave too much. And if Menma didn’t control it, who did? Each time they clashed he felt himself shake, trembling from the effort. It shouldn’t be this hard, this heavy… His breath came in quick gulps of air, stolen between one blow and the next, sweat running down his neck. The cave felt sweltering hot, as if the kyuubi’s chakra heated the air until it dug into Susanoo’s chakra layer, nipping at it until parts of the armor fell off like flakes.

Even the kyuubi seemed to… _flake_ , somehow. When Sasuke concentrated enough to look through the purple there seemed to be dark undercurrents of chakra under the red fur, moving in a pattern of its own. Either way things weren’t looking good, though it’s not like they were looking terrible.

Again, why was he _trembling so much_? Gritting his teeth he moved forwards, slowly, ignoring the white clones underneath him. They couldn’t do much to his Susanoo, and he didn’t like being pressed up to the wall. The kyuubi snarled at him, but his chakra armor held against the barrage of tails. All the plans Sasuke tried to think of seemed useless, leading nowhere. It all seemed like a stalemate, both of them locked in a slow battle of endurance, waiting for the other to give way as they were both unwilling to damage the cave further.

Heart heavy in his throat, Sasuke pulled up his Rinnegan. He didn’t expect much but the sage chakra should give him an extra boost, at least.

It had the kyuubi rearing back, ears slick against its head.

Unsure of what was going on, Sasuke eyed the kyuubi warily as it backed away from him, hissing. Perhaps it wasn’t the kyuubi itself that reacted to how he infused the sage chakra through his Susanoo? Drawing in a deep breath he channeled more of the sage chakra, made it flow through his sword, lapping like flames along the chakra shaping it. It made the kyuubi growl, claws digging deep into the rocky ground. And-

There.

Near where the kyuubi had emerged from.

A distortion in space and time, a dark pillar previously invisible. It couldn’t be anything other than a portal through dimensions, though where it led he couldn’t tell.

_Maybe that’s why it seemed to show up out of nowhere_ , he thought, drawing towards the right, closer to the portal. He leveled his sword at the fox, kept it at a distance. It seemed to be hesitating now, a shudder rippling through it. A little closer, a little more, and then the kyuubi seemed to realize what he was aiming for, baring its fangs.

Whatever Zetsu clones that hadn’t been trampled rushed towards the portal, a white mass of slimy limbs that one after another disappeared through the dark matter. Sasuke’s heart was beating too loud now, thudding in his ears, blocking out the rustle of movement. He kept his eyes on the kyuubi, slowly inching closer, breaths more shallow the closer he got.

Almost all the Zetsu were gone now, aside from the ones lifeless on the ground. The cave couldn’t have been as large as it seemed, considering how quickly it emptied. Maybe, if he came close enough, he would be able to see into the portal, or get an idea of where it was leading…

As he moved the kyuubi kept up pace with him, belly lowered to the ground and eyes like slits, wary but ready for attack. Sasuke couldn’t decide what was better – push the kyuubi through the portal and follow, let it leave and close the portal, or simply destroy it before the kyuubi could step through.

Cold prickles ran down his neck, chakra pulsating through his body. The opening was as black as ever when he glanced at it, no sign of the Zetsus that had already dived through it.

“Where does it lead?” he asked, voice sharp through the echoing cave.

All the kyuubi did was grind its jaw, head twitching towards the oval-shaped darkness. Would it lead straight to their enemy? To a place outside of time and space, like the one Obito had trapped him inside once? Perhaps it led nowhere, simply swallowed you up and never let you out again…

Closer yet, and there were faint noises reaching him through the dark. The sound of running water, wind rustling in trees; he strained his ears to pick up more when the kyuubi roared again, throwing itself towards him.

Conjuring up a wall of Amaterasu flames between them, Sasuke dropped his Susanoo and jumped, chidori shrieking in his hand. He fused as much sage chakra as he could into it, the way he’d seen Naruto do with his Rasengan, and when the kyuubi made the mistake of rushing through the dark flames he aimed for the neck.

Amaterasu did its job – eating away at the kyuubi’s fur – and Sasuke used the short moment when the fox reared back to push lightning into the base of its neck.

 It worked, for a moment; then the portal burst open with white, and he barely managed to avoid the Zetsu latching onto the fox’s limp body. It looked like a long chain of bodies, like Naruto’s dumb clone ladders, but his flames were transferred to white bodies that fell writhing to the ground, and as the kyuubi shrunk into Menma the chain dragged him towards the portal.

Sasuke ran, drawing his katana to cut through the chain, but a blast of chakra threw him backwards against the opposite wall. Ears ringing he brushed rubble off himself, Menma’s yellow hair swallowed up by darkness.

_Shit_.

Ignoring the pain pulsating through him he used his Rinnegan to switch places with a limp Zetsu that was closer, stretched his hand towards the portal, and-

Someone grabbed him from behind, grip crushingly tight.

He knew that chakra.

The portal shrunk in front of his eyes, but Sasuke couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.

_Shit shit shit-_

“Don’t,” Naruto said when he tried to move, the portal disappearing without a trace.

“ _Idiot_ ,” he forced out, body trembling, limbs useless. “You let him get away!”

“Who?”

“Menma!”

Naruto didn’t seem nearly as concerned about that as he should, frowning at him instead.

“Are you hurt?”

Sasuke blinked at him. At the lack of answer Naruto proceeded to check him thoroughly, brushing off dirt and clicking his tongue at a small rip in his clothes.

“Were you even listening to me?” Sasuke asked, forcing himself to take deep breaths. “Menma just disappeared into another dimension, don’t you have anything to say about that?”

“Well,” Naruto said, pausing in his fussing. “Considering I was convinced you were _dying_ , I don’t really care about Menma, no.”

They stared at each other, and then Naruto took his hand, holding it up between them.

“You don’t look in great shape, teme.”

His hand was still trembling, less now but visible enough. Swallowing, Sasuke turned his head. He didn’t know what to say to that.

“Why would you think that? Why are you even _here_?”

Naruto shrugged, letting their hands fall down again but not letting go, twisting his fingers with Sasuke’s.

“Where are the others?”

“Back at the inn.”

“Of course they are,” Naruto muttered, surveying their surroundings. “Is that what I think it is?”

He motioned towards one of the lifeless Zetsus, and when Sasuke took a step forwards he realized he was still tense, Rinnegan on full display. Rolling his shoulders he tried to relax a bit, Naruto pulling him forwards to inspect one of the fallen bodies.

“So what happened?”

As Sasuke explained they made a slow search of the cave, finding nothing but rocks and white clones. There weren’t even any additional tunnels leading out from the cave or any signs of a camp.

“Alright,” Naruto concluded, sitting down on the rocky ground cross-legged. “Menma’s gone who knows where, and we’ll have to force our way out.”

Sasuke waited for any continuation, but Naruto just sat there humming to himself, one hand still gripping Sasuke’s.

“And? What are we going to do about it?”

“Oh Sasuke, I am _so_ glad you asked.”

He didn’t care much for Naruto’s smug tone, but then he found himself pulled down on the ground, pushed onto his back. Glaring up at Naruto he was about to object when the idiot plopped down on top of his stomach, all but forcing the air out of his lungs.

“We’re not going to do anything until you tell me why you’re so upset.”

“I’m not upset.”

Naruto leaned forwards, but Sasuke bore his eyes into him, holding his ground.

“Sasuke. You’re _upset_. Talk to me.”

“No.”

Placing his hands on either side of Sasuke’s face, Naruto squished his cheeks and mouth regardless of the death glare he got for it.

“I know you,” Naruto told him, and this time Sasuke had to close his eyes, groaning. “You were shaking, and you’re all on edge. And _something_ made me feel like I’d just gotten stabbed multiple times so just get out with it.”

“It was nothing.”

He sounded pretty dumb with Naruto still squishing his cheeks, but he didn’t really feel like moving enough to push him away. Something inside him was still squirming, kept his heart thudding too fast. The change between his fight with Menma and Naruto’s arrival had happened too quickly, left his head reeling.

“I missed you.”

Sasuke sucked in a sharp breath, fingertips dragging over dirt.

“Shut up.”

“You were supposed to wake me up, you know.”

“Well I _tried_.” When Naruto didn’t reply he opened his eyes, found him with a conflicted expression on his face. “If you tell me you were dreaming some stupid shit about ramen-“

“I met Kaguya.”

Sighing, Sasuke felt something churn in his stomach at those words. Whatever they’d talked about couldn’t be good, not with Naruto looking at him like that.

“She said that if you go back home, you’ll die.”

“…right. Well. Not like that’s the first time.”

“Sasuke, I’m serious.”

“And you think I’m not?”

It was always easy to tell what Naruto was thinking, and right now he seemed torn between hitting him and pulling at his own hair. Sasuke, for his part, still tried to calculate all that had happened in the short time since he arrived at the cave, tried to find some sense in it.

“I really hated being away from you,” Naruto mumbled eventually, crossing his arms with a small huff. “I’m going to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Fantastic. Are we done now?”

“No.”

Glaring at each other, neither made an attempt to move. Sasuke barely managed not to grit his teeth, contemplating just falling asleep instead. He was starting to feel rather exhausted, now that things seemed over and done with. He was just about to tell Naruto to stop being so annoying when he broke eye contact, staring down at Sasuke’s chest with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“You were supposed to wake me up and kiss me goodbye.”

“I was what?”

Sasuke had heard him perfectly, but he really enjoyed how Naruto squirmed, hands clutching at his t-shirt.

“Supposed to kiss me. Goodbye. Um. Yeah. So you should do it now instead.”

“Unless you changed your mind about sticking to me like a leech I don’t really see why I should.”

Naruto smacked his chest, beetroot red now, strangled noises coming from his throat.

“Don’t get smart with me, bastard.”

Reaching up, Sasuke grabbed the back of Naruto’s neck, bringing their faces close. He could feel Naruto’s warm breath wash over his mouth, the hand on his chest sliding downwards to splay across his stomach as Naruto scooted back to sit on his thighs instead.

“It was barely two days,” he said, one of Naruto’s arms sneaking around his shoulders.

He was supporting himself with one hand, Naruto above him, eyes narrowed as Sasuke gave him a challenging look.

“I’ve had lots of fun without you,” Naruto lied, knees locking around Sasuke’s hips.

“Then I suggest you go back right now and leave me to deal with-“

The rest of his words were drowned in Naruto’s mouth, lips pressing together hard. He would never admit it out loud, but he’d missed this, too. Letting his fingers slide through Naruto’s short hair he opened his mouth, licking at Naruto’s tongue until it made him choke. Naruto pushed at his stomach until he fell back down again, caged in by Naruto’s arms.

“I hope no one’s waiting for you to come back and report soon,” Naruto mumbled, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“Why are you always talking so much,” he sighed, prompting Naruto to capture his mouth again, warmth spreading through Sasuke’s cold, tense limbs as he did.

Naruto was always like this; warm and demanding and knowing just what Sasuke needed.

And right now, all he needed was this, was Naruto’s body heavy on top of him, fingers cradling his face, mouth working hard to drive him breathless. Still, there was a lingering feeling of dread inside him that even Naruto couldn’t suppress fully.

What was he going to tell Charasuke?

xxx

In another dimension, Sakura was busy gathering herbs at the outskirts of Konoha territory, morning sun slowly creeping towards midday. They weren’t precisely running out, but she’d been on edge all week and Tsunade had forced her to take a day off.

It didn’t help that she couldn’t join the search parties for Naruto and Sasuke, though where would they even look? There was no trace, no clues; only Sasuke’s katana left behind. She had a personal suspicion that they were stuck in some other dimension, one practice teleportation gone wrong, but they really should have figured out a way to get back in that case…

She ran a finger along the stem of a small plant, basket filled an hour ago. The village wasn’t precisely different now, but there was something brewing underneath the surface, mutterings of past betrayals, and could they really know they’d _both_ been forced to disappear?

Naruto’s birthday had been… strange, for lack of a better word. People hadn’t known what to think, back then. Was he just skipping out on the attention? Had something happened, a secret mission perhaps? Nothing could be said for certain, even now. They were just gone. There was an invisible hole within the village walls, like the lack of sunlight on a cloudy day, making you wonder if the clouds would ever pass.

She ripped the stem from the ground, standing up to stretch her stiff limbs. It was getting colder at last, and she rubbed warmth into her arms, frowning up at the sky through the treetops. Maybe she could find Ino and go for an early lunch…

A small noise made her pause, something above the faint murmur of the nearby stream. An animal, maybe? It sounded again, something between a groan and a grunt. Leaving the basket she crept closer, about to dismiss it as her frayed nerves when it sounded again, accompanied by a pained gasp.

Rushing as quietly as she could she reached the stream, pulling up short. She reached a hand out for support, finding the trunk of a tree, surveying the scene. White Zetsus like the ones from last year’s war littered the ground, charred in some places, half-melted in others. And there, just by the sandy patch stretching into the river, feet dipping into the shallow water…

 

Naruto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... we finally get a glimpse of what's going on in canon Konoha!! Let me know what you think because I had severe writer's block for this chapter (not the plot, but just writing the fighting scene, sigh). 
> 
> Anyway! I wish you all the best for 2018, thank you for sticking with me so far!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [tumblr](http://fangirlandiknowit101.tumblr.com/) if you have any further questions or comments, or just want to ask when I'm planning to update etc! I'm also on [twitter](https://twitter.com/katsudonforever), but it's really just 110% yuri on ice...


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